sweater – Page 2 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

A Gansey for Autumn

The summer is winding down, and my last two days off work lie ahead. I have not done much painting as my interest in the visual arts is currently on photography. On the other hand, knitting, while not prolific, has been steady. I have been working on a gansey in Rowan’s Felted Tweed for the past several weeks.

The design is sort of original, and sort of not, as it is based on a gansey pattern design by Beth Brown-Reinsel‘s book Knitting Ganseys, specifically the child’s gansey “Snakes and Ladders,” which is pictured on the cover of her book. I’ve expanded the stitch count – I’m no toddler in size! – and have decided to make it more in the EZ style, with raglan sleeves, and possibly a placket opening in the front or a boat neck, just because in California a high-necked sweater would be too hot for me.

It’s been quite a while since I have made a sweater. Admittedly, Josh’s sweater fell to the wayside – it was too, too boring. I needed a brighter color, and texture. I purchased the Rowan yarn several years ago, but had no idea what I wanted to make out of it, so of course it sat around. The color is one of my favorites, a rust color or what some might call a spiced pumpkin color, as it is not a deep rust, but more the color of autumn leaves which have not completely faded.

Designing a sweater takes a bit of work! While the design itself was essentially there in Beth’s book, I needed to expand on it. In the end, rather than a 6-stitch snake cable, I upped it to an 8-stitch cable. The bar sections (7 rnds. of stockinette with one rnd. of purl) became 10 stitches. I thought I had it all set up, and then as I was knitting realized I had not taken into account the fact that centering of a pattern section was critical for success. Duh! Once that was solved, though, the body proceeded nicely.

I have finished the body to the point where I am ready to add sleeves. I am about 2/3 done with the first sleeve, which is knitting up amazingly fast, and I am enjoying the simplicity of the overall sweater pattern quite a bit. As with the body, the sleeve took a bit of thought, but is going along quite nicely now that I have completed the increases.

It always feels good to see progress on a project – especially after frogging a major sweater elsewhere!

Man Sweater, a.k.a. Josh’s Cardigan

I’ve done a lot of swatches, and the fact is the yarn I have for Josh’s sweater is simply too weirdly plied to allow for any texture to come through when knit up. The end result is pretty awful – a lot of work and nothing to show for it. However, this does not mean this yarn is not worth knitting up – it really is beautiful, has a soft feel to it when washed, and so the design process will ultimately be very simple – but not without adventures. I may do diagonal slash pockets and saddle shoulders. That should keep me busy! Cast-on is done, and 1×1 ribbing is commenced. This will carry up the button bands as well, with stockinette in between.

Out Looking Around

Being in vacation mode means – being in vacation mode! But as my last week begins, the organizational part of me returns. This means a return to patterns of daily living, such as coffee set up the night before, getting up at 5:30-6:00, and following the morning routines of reading the news, blogs I enjoy, and perusing the patterns on Ravelry, and what everyone is knitting. And this brought me to the current issue of Twist Collective, for which I had considered sending in a pattern or two. Well, I never got around to that! However, this morning I sat down and went through the current edition, and was really impressed by a lot of what was on it.

Latvian cast-on? That possibility caught my eye on this hat with knit-purl-cable patterns that are very pretty in all their combinations. This is the Crown of Leaves hat by Faina Goberstein.

A lot of sweaters caught my eye, too. Mostly they are traditional patterns – I don’t do innovative well – that are on the tailored side. Wellfleet by Cecily Glowik MacDonald presents with a tidy appearance in a very unconservative and cheery color.

Continuing on a traditional note with innovative design is Hallett’s Ledge by Elinor Brown. It is easy to see why this is a popular sweater on Ravelry – design and construction! And the name – where did that come from?

Finally, there is Acorns by Carol Sunday. The entire design of the sweater is very attractive. It is knit from the top down, in one piece. The name of the sweater got my initial attention – I really love oak trees – but then the sweater itself showed its appeal.

A part of me wants to order these patterns and get to work! Self-control must step in, but this post certainly will remind me what got my eye! (I still have other projects to work on . . . ) And this is not to say there are not a lot of other wonderful patterns on Twist Collective – there are far too many. This season’s issue is, in my opinion, one of the best. But then, I say that about most of their issues.

Buttoned Cardigan, iii

The Buttoned Cardigan seems to be moving along nicely. Some focus is needed for the button bands and the pattern along the upper portion of the bodice, but it is easily done. I had to improvise a bit along the way, just to get a sense of how the pattern could work with the modifications I made.

Personally, I think the left front neckband’s decreases are tidier than the right (when you look at the photo, your right is the sweater’s left).

I also think that this yarn was possibly not the best for this pattern, in part because it is so busy, but also because of the looseness of the twist in the yarn itself. Still, the sweater is not obnoxious, and the details of the sweater up close, with this yarn, are nice. A solid color would be better. I do like the green buttons.

I have a few more rows to do on the left front before I begin the sleeves. I am thinking of making the sleeves 3/4 length, just because I prefer shorter ones. I always roll up or push my wrist-length sleeves. I have 8 buttons, and maybe I’ll put one on each sleeve as a decoration of sorts . . .

A Sweater Amidst the Smoke & Ash: Buttoned Cardigan, ii

The fires east of Los Angeles now cover over 220 square miles, or 140,000 or more acres. 80 miles away, to the west, the air is thick, the sky has a pale color to it, and when the sun manages to hit a surface, it is a sickly, reddish color. My eyes are burning, my throat hurts, and I am sneezing. That’s about as far as I will go – let’s just say, if is an altogether unpleasant experience here, I can only imagine how awful it is for people in the middle of it, the fire fighters, and everyone else.

There are a lot of rather snotty comments about California, fires, and so on. The fact is, every year the fires seem to be worse than those of the previous year, larger, harder to contain. Some of this is because of the ongoing drought, some is because of global warming, some of it because of the pine beetle, and some of it is because containment of fires has been the general practice, if not total abatement. Given the population density of the Los Angeles area, this makes sense – but when payback comes, it is nasty.

However, it is not just people who pay the price – wildlife also pays a price for this. How many wild animals have been burned to death, how many are without water or food? The cost is far greater people’s homes, it is the entire eco-system which pays the price, from humans to caterpillar, deer and songbird. The depredation of the environment is global, but so many people do not want to admit to it. And I am beginning to believe that less and less will be done, can be done, as populations increase, and living space and arable soil and clean water become less and less available.

But enough of this. Since it is hard to do much in this heat and fouled air, I thought I would take some pictures of the Buttoned Cardigan I have been working on. I’ve done the lower body, to the arm hole area, and completed the back. I am now ready to continue with the fronts. It is knitting up rather quickly, which is something I am rather enjoying right now. This picture shows you the sweater laid out with the sections done to date.

Here is a closer view of the buttons I bought for the sweater, and I think you can see how nicely the green buttons work with the greenish elements in the sweater itself.

And finally, the edging detail, which, admittedly, gets lost in the yarn. Still, I think it has a nice, finished quality to it.