Better Sweater Buttons

I dreamed of buttons that matched my Garter Yoke Cardigan. Finding them wasn't easy. A trip to a superstore did the trick.

That's the old brass buttons on the cuffs, and the new buttons going in on the band.

Ah, peach buttons, as I had dreamed, complete with brown etchings around the rim. For an additional thrill, the etchings are shiny. Be sure to click the photos for details. Notice that there's a matte finish on these buttons. So. Cool.

There's not much better than the perfect buttons, except having lots of them. I reknit the button band and added two more to the front. Then I changed the buttons on the cuff, tacking the tabs down more smoothly as I did. Now my sweater pleases me as much as the lilacs did.

The entire town smelled of lilacs this month. Long-time residents said it was the best year ever for lilacs and gave credit to the lack of a late frost. Ah, the lilacs, ah the buttons.

I know you want to see my sweater with her new buttons on...

Subtle, not brassy.

The contrasting buttons tie the sweater and band together.

If this silliness doesn't amuse you, I hope it at least encourages you to be diligent the next time you button shop. Don't give up until you find the better buttons.

Fair Isle Knitting Class

If you've wanted to try Fair Isle knitting but need just a little help, I can now point you to some sources of that help. I paid to attend a class in this knitting technique, but the references we used are readily available. The class was useful, in that I got visual demonstrations along with the verbal explanations. However, if you know the basics, you can try the same projects we used for the class.

What you have to know:

1. How to knit both Continental and English.
2. How to weave in the yarn as you knit.

Watching the video at Philosopher's Wool and the videos at KnittingHelp.com will help with #1.
This tutorial with photos explains weaving in. If you need more, just search for "knitting in ends".

Our teacher stressed the importance of weaving in the strands of yarn across the back of your knitting. She explained that weaving in eliminates any tension problems which you might have if you just stranded the yarn not in use across the back. Her rule is to never knit more than two stitches in a single color without weaving in the other color. The video I linked above works for weaving in the yarn which is held in the left hand. If the color sequence requires weaving in the yarn held in the right hand, that yarn must be wrapped around the needle and woven in by wrapping the left-hand yarn (the yarn with which you will knit a stitch) and then unwrapping the right-hand yarn before you knit the stitch. It is confusing at first, but once you work through it a couple of times, it makes sense.

I'll admit right here that I'm not weaving in the strands as often as she suggested. I trust my ability to control my stranding tension well enough to knit three stitches without weaving. That said, I still recommend it. Regular weaving produces a smoother fabric with shorter loose strands across the back.

Our first simple project was a purse available on the Philosopher's Wool website. The second one is a hat courtesy of Classic Elite.

Here's the bag I knit:

It is upside down because that is the way it is knit, from the top down (or, err, up). This photo will help you to check your work. My bag differs from the pattern in two ways. First, I started with three rows of garter stitch rather than ribbing. Second, I was working from a printed version that split the chart onto two pages. When I got to the top of the first half of the chart, I stopped. I wasn't supposed to do that, but it actually worked out better that I did, since all wanted was the shallow zippered bag you see here. To help you with knitting the deeper version, refer to this photo:


Once you've done the bag, you will find that knitting the hat just requires following the chart and the pattern. The chart provided with the pattern is quite small. I enlarged it by selecting it and copying it to MS Word where I could enlarge it. E-mail me if you need help with this, or just use a copy machine to enlarge the chart.

If you use the recommended weight of yarn, fingering (or sock) weight, this hat will fit a smaller-than-adult head, one that is less than 21" around. It is also a bit short. To make it fit an adult head, I added an inch to the brim and am knitting it at a larger gauge, using sport-weight yarn (24-26 sts/4").

It is best to swatch first, especially if you are using a heavier-weight yarn. You can either swatch a small tube or a flat knit piece. If you choose to swatch flat, you will have to purl across the back with the yarn in both hands. It is hard, but just doing it the best way you can will still produce a usable swatch.

If you have trouble with these two projects, try a class. They really do help.

Sweaters ending in e

Looking at my two current sweater projects provides perfect examples of how my knitting remains yarn-driven. The first sweater project stretched out over two years with relatively little effort. It started with the yarn I found in a bin in the sock yarn section of a shop in Kansas City--Koigu Kersti in a deep, mottled purple. I bought only four hanks of the semi-solid purple and one of a cream with purple flecks that looked good with it, a total of 570 yards of dk-weight yarn. At the time, having never knit a full-size sweater, I thought that was plenty. Since then, I've often seen a pattern that I thought might do, but never was I convinced enough to even swatch. I actually found a pattern in my Knitting New Scarves book that is intended for Kersti. I tried it and couldn't get gauge. It looked awful. Thank goodness I ripped it out, for now I have this:

Last month I bought the Spring issue of Vogue Knitting and found the Ripple cardigan, a pattern for a sweater in different colorways of Koigu. It requires Mori, which is a lighter weight than Kersti, but, since it is a top-down raglan, I figured I could just stop knitting when it fit right. It turned out to be just the right thing for this yarn, and allowed me to use bits of other dk and sock-weight yarn I had. I only bought one additional color, the solid brown. Sometimes things just work out with little effort involved.

Then there's the Jaeger Aqua yarn, the yarn for which so many patterns have been considered and discarded. This project actually didn't start with the yarn but with the pattern, the Swooping Eyelet pullover. I actually bought the yarn to knit this pattern. I bought one ball of a color that appeared to be (on my monitor) a light gray. In reality, it is lavender. I swatched, liked the look but not the color and ordered 13 balls in a dark brown. With the brown, things changed--mostly the texture and softness of the yarn. Once I swatched, I decided that it was the wrong gauge, was too hard and didn't look good in plain stockinette. It is so true that the same yarn in a different color can feel and behave differently (must be the dye).

As I hesitated to knit the Eyelet pullover, I reviewed the pattern. The very first thing that put me off it was the cast on, a complicated procedure involving using a crochet chain and short rows to effect the curved hemline. There ended one attempt to select a pattern before buying the yarn.

I continued my swatching:

First I tried Veronik Avery's Layer Skater's undertop-(that link is actually to someone's blog, but the picture is the best I've seen outside the pattern book). After all, I didn't really need to swatch for this--it is mostly stockinette. My swatches thus far told me that this yarn, Jaeger Aqua, was the perfect gauge for this sweater. I liked the pattern construction (in the round with saddle shoulders), but not the fit. The sweater is designed to be form-fitting with a plain stockinette front. I'm afraid that this yarn is not soft enough for that look. I also think that it is much too thick for a turned hem to look right.

Thinking I could substitute a different edging and front, I looked at Wishbone. The ribbed bottom worked well enough, but the cable, which I love, doesn't look good in this yarn and is difficult to do. This was my third swatch and the one that I didn't finish. After 10 rows into the cable pattern, I knew the tough cotton it wouldn't work for it.

Frustrated, I began checking all my pattern books for a simple cotton pullover. Soon I found Louisa Harding's Sallie striped sweater-(you need to click on Sallie to see it, but it is a great photo). "Oh, lookie!, I thought, "I can use some of my stashed odd balls of yarn for the stripes!" There is nothing like the prospect of using up stash yarn to sell me on a project.

As far as the pattern goes, the only thing I don't like is the length of the sleeves and body. That is easy to fix. Not so easy is the yarn and pattern mis-match. The Aqua yarn gauge is completely wrong, 23 st/4" instead of 20. To add to the yarn problems, there might not be enough of the green yarn for all the stripes. Math can fix the gauge problem, but not the others. In addition, I'm afraid the seams may not look good in this yarn and that the sweater won't look good without shaping.

However, it swatched up super cute.

I can't resist it and am making adjustments to add shaping. One version of the sweater has a peplum (a flare at the hips). I'm using a modified peplum to add waist shaping and will add bustline shaping at the side seams. To avoid lumpy-looking seams, I'll probably knit most of it in the round, joining the sleeves and body and knitting a raglan yoke, so the stripes will match nicely. Alternatively, I might use the shaping from the Skater sweater and have saddle shoulders. I'll likely confound this pattern marriage by making adjustments to the neckline, which is a little higher than I'd like in the Skater, but a little too wide in the Sallie.

I could even incorporate the sleeve cable from the Skater sweater, especially if I don't have enough green yarn for stripes in the sleeves. Wait. I'm bit uncertain that I would go that far, Frankinstein-ing the two patterns together, especially since I don't see any sweaters on Ravelry that have stripes in the body and not in the sleeves. hmmm...

In time, we will see how these two sweater experiments, the Ripple and the Sallie, work out. Looking at them, I'd say I'm headed for a Summer of Stripes. My latest foray into Fair Isle continues the trend. I'll cover that in my next post.

Garter Yoke Cardigan yarn shortage

Recently, someone was amused to learn that I would adapt a pattern to fit the yarn I had. If they looked at my projects, they would really be entertained. Almost all my projects are based on the yarn. For me, it is all about the materials. Patterns photos can inspire me to knit, but rarely to purchase. However, the sight of yarn invariably causes my wallet to leap out of my purse. The touch, the color and the texture of yarn provides the inspiration I need to knit. Once I have the yarn, I pick out a pattern for it. If I can't find a pattern that works, I modify a pattern to make it work.

My most recently completed sweater is both and exception and an example of this rule.


Garter Yoke Cardigan, in last fall's Knit.1 magazine. I've been wanting to knit this sweater all this past winter. I even bought the magazine just to get the pattern, thereby disproving my "yarn first" rule. Even stranger, I've never bought the recommended yarn for the pattern. Actually, I never bought any yarn for the pattern.

What I did buy last year was a bunch of Karabella yarn that was marked down at my lys. I bought some green Aurora 8. I liked it so much that I went back and bought some more in peach, with some Margrite Bulky that I thought complemented it well. It was over 700 yards of yarn, and should have been enough for some type of garment.

It was enough for the Sweet Tee from Interweave Knits. The worry that a bunch of plain stockinette knitting in a light color would visually enlarge my waistline until the possibility of its existence was questioned stayed my needles. *sigh* Consulting a fabulous article on fit in the silver anniversary issue of Vogue Knitting, I learned that a vertical line has a slimming effect. Aha. A cardigan was what I needed. I thought I'd knit the GYC, using the peach yarn as a kind of "muslin" (sewers know what I mean) to see how I'd like to knit the pattern once I actually buy yarn for it.

The knitting didn't take long. I actually finished it in tandem with my last sweater, the green cabled pullover. As you can see, I had to cut it very short. Short sleeves, short cardi. I tried to make up for it with details. The contrasting, picked-up button band was one thing, but the detail I really like is the cuffs.

I copied the cuff idea from a raveler (check my ravelry project for more construction details and a link to the brilliant knitter who thought of deep, buttoned, garter stitch cuffs for this sweater), but I made them short. I had to, I was short of yarn, but I also thought they would be cuter short.

Knitting this "muslin" taught me several things about the pattern. This smooth yarn has too much stitch definition for this pattern, making it difficult to hide the short rows at the back of the neck. I'll look for a fuzzier yarn for my next go-round. Also, I need to keep in mind that garter stitch uses more yarn to cover less area, and buy extra hanks. The pattern shaping is great, though. I probably didn't need those stitches I added under the arm, and thus could knit it again with almost no modifications. The garter stitch yoke really stretches to accomodate my shoulders, making for a very comfortable fit.

So. Yea. *hangs head* I buy the yarn then I futz around with patterns to make them fit the yarn. It's not so uncommon an idea, and I like the results.

Mother's Day for a deer

A couple of mornings ago, I caught an interloper in my back yard. I knew who she was. I had seen her before and could easily identify her by the two notches in her right ear.

Last July I wrote about this deer, who rested in our yard for a couple of mornings while her twin fawns napped in the weeds of the adjacent vacant lot. I've seen deer around town fairly often since then, but never have I been sure that I saw this particular doe and her fawns, though I've often wondered how they fared during the winter.

I knew that some deer were jumping our fence to eat last year's crabapples. All the wildlife, deer, squirrels, and birds alike, love to eat the little, soft, dried-up, fallen fruits. They've eaten almost all of them, mostly during the night or in our absence, leaving their droppings as evidence of their visits.

There are a few crabapples left to tempt a deer. Also tempted were the deer on the outside of the fence. There were three others in the vacant lot next door. One of them, a fairly large doe, was peacefully munching weeds. The other two smaller does were pacing around our fenceline. I could clearly see the segmented motion of two deer shapes through the cracks between our old fence boards. Watching the brief flashes of their shadows as they walked around, trying to decide what to do, was like watching an old, jerky, silent movie. It was clear that they knew mom was eating crabapples and they wanted some too, or perhaps they were just nervous being separated from their mother.

Then, suddenly, action! With only a little difficulty, a young doe jumped in and started eating while mom watched to see if the other one was coming. There followed a brief interval of nibbling, watching,

more nibbling and more watching. They seemed to see and hear us through the window, but were not as interested in us as they were in other noises. Mom was watching her other kid across the fence, but she also took notice whenever a car passed or someone walked by. The morning was well under way and the neighborhhod was becoming increasingly active. The deer became more nervous, both these two and the two in the lot on the other side of the fence.

Since I figured that they would be leaving soon anyway, I thought I'd see what they would do if I went outside. Neither the noise of the door opening or my appearance spooked them enough to cause them to leave.

They simply stood still and stared at me. It was a standoff. I approached ever closer, but they never moved. I waved my ams and said "Shoo!". Nothing. Perhaps they thought I had food for them. A few more steps and I began to wonder if the doe would be motivated to protect her nearly-grown yearling daughter. Deciding that getting too close might not be a good idea, I backed off and went inside.

My leaving shook them out of their trance. After one last brief look around, the doe made her exit. Good. I didn't have to worry about my flower beds or the birdseed and nuts I had put out for the squirrels on the patio. I thought surely the daughter would follow the mom. But she didn't.

She got dangerously close to my flower garden while she was eyeing the seed in the bowl on the patio.

Enough. It was obvious she needed to be motivated to jump the fence. I went outside and sat down, waving my arms at her now and then.


She began to eye the fence opening. I went inside where I could see her clearly. Like a diver who hesitates to jump from the diving board, she took three runs at the fence, repeatedly trotting up to it and stopping. Finally, on her third run, she jumped, just clearing the opening with her front hooves and giving herself a little boost off the top railing with her hind hooves.

The three other deer were waiting for her. Once she made it across, they headed down the alley and were gone.

This simple drama of the two young does who did not want to be separated from their mother, the one who dared the jump to be with mom, but then hesitated to follow her back out, the one who waited nervously for mom to return, and mom's protective watchfulness while trying to get a bite to eat, seemed so familar. Whether animal or human, the tie between mother and child is obvious.

Happy Mother's Day!

Cabled, Cotton, and Knitted

Finally, the cabled cotton sweater is blocked and ready for photos. Actually, the shot below was taken yesterday morning, just before I put it in the washer (hand wash cycle, fabric softener only, no detergent).

It's so nice and new that I'm still treating it a little gently. After squeezing it between towels (for some reason, my washer doesn't spin-dry in the hand wash cycle), I laid it out flat with the fan on it. It was dry by morning and I went out to the crab apple for a few photos.

Unfortunately for the sweater, it was chilly, the sprinklers were on (K exhibited bad timing on the sprinkler project), and the crab apple flowers were distracting.

So that's all the decent photos. I abandoned the camera for the days chores. An excursion to you-know-what Mart has proved the sweater to be quite wearable, comfy and fairly warm, thus proving that using a worsted weight yarn and size 7 needles in the Cabled Pullover pattern from the Silver Anniversary issue of Vogue Knitting can produce a fitted sweater, rather than an oversize one.

The pattern calls for over 3,000 yards of a sportweight wool yarn. I had 1240 yards of a cotton and acrylic blend (ye olde Cotton-ease). Since the sportweight yarn is held double, a heavier weight yarn held single would require 1,500 yards. I thought I'd knit a shorter version to reduce the yards needed to around 1200. Unfortunately, I got carried away with my cables and didn't start the armholes quite soon enough.

The sweater is a smidge too long. That's not a serious problem, but it does explain that crease you see at the bottom in the photo above. I first thought I messed it up in blocking, but now I realize that it gets caught in my lap when I sit. After a couple of cups of coffee this morning, I had a crease. Also, if the sweater had been shorter, I would have had enough yarn to knit the turtleneck to the recommended 11" length. As it is, I only had enough for a 7" turtleneck. The jury is still out on the question of collar length. Certainly it will do, especially since it is short enough to wear up, as a mock turtleneck, or just flopped down in front, cowl-style. For comfort, I prefer it rolled down.

My final commentary on the sweater concerns the shoulders and sleeves, where I made some pattern modifications. When knitting the back armhole decreases, I stopped cabling as soon as the decreases cut into the cable stitches. This left several rows of stockinette above the last cable twist. To eliminate that effect on the front, I cabled and decreased at the same time, crossing the stitches first, then decreasing when knitting the two stitches closest to the edge. You can see the result in the photo above. (All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them). The cable twists go right up to the decrease line. I'd rather have done this on the back as well, but having this difference in the front and back cable endings makes it easier to tell the front from the back when I'm pulling on the sweater.

My second modification was to change the pattern in the sleeves, replacing the diamond cable with a plain cable and the reverse stockinette with broken ribbing. I thought this would make the pattern line up better. In a way, it does. The broken ribbing on the sleeve matches up with the same pattern on the body, the outside cable matches with the second cable on the body, and the inside cable matches with the third cable on the body. It's not perfect, but considering that the sleeve is reduced by approximately 30 stitches and the body is reduced by approximately 60, the only way to get a perfect match would have been to reduce the number of stitches in the central twisted ribbing enough to make room for the diamond cable.

Although I considered it for days, I finally decided against reducing the ribbing. I'm glad now that I left it, for a completely unforseen reason. It allows a lot of stretch over my shoulders.

The shoulders are a part of this sweater that probably need to be re-designed in my version. The oversize version falls off the shoulder; no fit needed. In a fitted version, the back should be raised (I added two sets of short-rows to the back shoulders, but the back neck is still too low). Also, for someone with square shoulders (me!), either the sleeve cap or the shoulders should be wider.

I've read that a yoke sweater might need extra increases in the yoke for someone with square shoulders. Overall, set-in sleeves would fit that body type better. I think the same rule applies with raglans, which are just yoke sweaters with the increases (or decreases) confined to one area.

As it is, I've skated by with this one. My other cotton-ease sweaters have stretched out tremendously. This one will loosen up with each wash.

Knitting to beat the calendar

I've finished two sweaters by the end of April. That in itself might not warrant a comment, let alone a brag. I'm making the statement to bring up another point, one that I'm struggling to eschew from my desires. I've been happy, I'll confess, happy that I've now "caught up" with the goals of the 12 sweaters/year NaNii whatever. Ok, I'll let myself name them, even though it does bring a dangerous swell of pride to my throat--Oblique, Heavenly Bailey, or Blue, Cardigan, Cabled Turtleneck and Garter Yoke Cardigan.

Never mind that I'm a devoted reader of Margene's blog, once she introduced the concept I never said I was going to participate in this 12-project knit a long. I did rush over to Ravelry and join the group, under the guise of checking on everyone's projects. After all, I'd already joined the Sweater-a-Month group the year before. I hadn't knit along with them, just put together a group of 12 sweaters I had completed in the last 10 months. Later, I added to the group until the 12 month time frame had elasped, resulting in a total of 14 sweaters in 12 months. "So there", I thought when I read Margene's invite, "been there, done that." I had no real reason to do it again.

After all, how many sweaters did I need?

My intent all along has been to just knit what I want and not worry about how long each project took to complete. That's my intent, uhuh, but my desire...

Oh, I'd love to do it, to produce 12 gorgeous, well-fitting sweaters along with the 500+ other knitters who have signed up for this endeavor. Why? Am I a sheep? Do I have to follow the herd? I've already proved I can do it. The answer is simple, I suppose:

Baaaa!

I have had visions of my success, a stack of sweaters shining on my clean closet shelves, an empty yarn bin, and a ton of complimentary comments on my blog and faves on Ravelry. However, my fond imaginings ignore the months of my life that will be consumed in pursuit of this goal. I'd like to thoroughly enjoy the time I spend as I progress, ever so slowly, toward it. That means, no pressure, no planning, just moving from one project to another, ignoring the clock and the calendar.

It will never happen. That is, unless I can twist my brain around from the old, worn pathways. Too long have I trodden those old walks where one success just breeds the desire for another. The time has come to step aside the path, and sit, knitting quietly.

It is time. . .to just knit.

And dream, and I'll probably dream of dozens of completed sweaters as I knit. Ah well, nobody's perfect, and a little greed is a good incentive for me.

After the latest ones are blocked, I'll indulge in a full "FO" post. In the meantime, I've more socks and a couple of more sweaters to cast on. Maybe I'll learn to knit and enjoy these, but it won't stop me from bragging when they are done.

Seriously, I think Margene's idea was inspired. Even after I was finally allowed to join the ranks of Ravelry, I despaired of ever seeing enough hand-knitted sweater to satisfy my passion. Now, thanks to NaKniSweMoDo, I have a great source of inspiration and satisfaction. If you want to see a LOT of great sweaters, just go look at the project pages. I'm excited to think of what the coming months will bring.