splityarn

Mariah is done done DONE!

Mariah is now officially finished with a zipper and everything. Here's the official rundown, ala karmicknits 20 questions:

1. Name of Project: Mariah
2. Pattern Source:  Jodi Green for Knitty, Winter 2005
3. Yarn: Cascade 220
4. Fiber: 100% wool
5. Yarn Color: 9404 - a fancy way of saying red

6. Where did I get the yarn: Hill Country Weavers during their Boxing Week sale. (Although they called it the 'after Christmas sale'. Americans don't do the whole Boxing Day thing.)
7. Is it the yarn called for: No, I just happened to hit gauge for it while swatching for Rogue. She was knit on size 6 US bamboo circulars.
8. How long did it take to knit: I started January 7th and finished March 17th. The zipper didn't go in until April 3rd. So let's call it three months I guess, but I wasn't faithful to just this as a project.
9. Did I change anything: Yep. I made it a little longer in the body by a half an inch. I also grafted the hood instead of binding off and seaming it up. I like that there's no visible seam.
10. What would I have done differently: I might have carried up the cable along the edge of the hood. It would have made the last of the plain stockinette knitting a LOT more interesting thus finishing faster. I also would have continued a few more rows around on the top of the yoke. The neck is a little too wide for me and the raglan portion from underarm is a little short and a few more rounds would have taken care of that.

11. Were the instructions clear: Yep. This was Jodi's first published pattern, so we helped her out with how to improve on things for next time. I emailed Jodi a couple times with questions while I was working on it. She was very timely in responding, very helpful and encouraging. Thanks Jodi! Eklectika's knitalong was handy when challenges came up as well. The one thing that seemed to trip everyone up though? Remembering to start the increases on the sleeves when you hit 6 inches. Folks (including me) didn't read far enough ahead in the pattern.
12. What did I learn: Cables! I'd never twisted a cable in my life before I cast on for that first sleeve. Who needs to try things out on a swatch. HAH! I also learned how to sew in a zipper, but I didn't so much learn how to do it properly as learn to screw it up twice until I got it sort of ok.
13. Was it worth it: Hell yeah!
14. Would I do it again: Maybe, but I might not do the hood. I really dug the cables up the arms. Tres cool.
15. What seaming methods were used: mattress stitch on the sleeves and body, kitchener on the hood.

16. Will I knit with the yarn again: Of course. I think Cascade 220 will become a staple in the stash.
17. Do I think I'll wear it: I think so, unfortunately not this year though. It's already too kickin' warm in Texas.  Living here I don't have a need for a jacket anymore (and sent mine to Goodwill,) so this is going to fill that hole in the wardrobe. It will definitely accompany me on trips to Vancouver and Boston.
18. Do I have shoes to match: Heh - Almost everything I own is either red, black pink, so yes, I do have shoes to match.
19. Process or Product: The sleeves were process. The hood? Oh lordy, that was for the product.
20. Final Thoughts: An altogether enjoyable knit and after 1600 yards of red wool, my bamboo needles are now a dark pink. I guess they're just nicely seasoned now.

so zippy!

While out and about yesterday I picked up a black zipper to try out on Mariah. I've been delaying long enough and it was time to just sew the damn thing in and finish her up. This morning I read every zipper tutorial known to knitting, swallowed a big gulp of coffee and prepared to dig in. I basted back the 2 stitch garter edges on the fronts. I basted the fronts together with yarn. I pinned the zipper on. I basted the zipper on. All the edges were perfectly aligned. I checked, double checked, triple checked. Off to the sewing machine! Hey, this is easy!

What's the problem then? Why no Mariah pics?
'Cause I'm too busy swearing and looking for my seam ripper. Get a load of THIS.

...almost!

What's that? A swatch for Lucky Clover? Why yes, yes it is. You know what that means, don'cha?

Yep. Mariah is off the needles and blocking quietly on the floor. Is she done now?

Now?

How 'bout now?

Now?

always after me lucky charms

I've been plugging away on Mariah's hood. She's almost done. Almost. It seems that I've been working on the hood for a month now and in fact, I have. I've hit a bit of a wall. I was starting to think that frogging elves were sneaking in in the middle of the night ripping out the measly one or two rows I've knit each day. But the truth of it is that I've been working on other projects. Secret projects for a pal, some tote bags, some needle cases, almost everything except Mariah. The weather got very warm and she just fell off the priority list. My focus for the next week is to knit the last 2 inches (I know - easy, fast!) and finish her up. Expect my first knitting FO pics for 2005 early next week.

Once Mariah is done, I'll start my next project. I can't think of a better day than St. Patrick's day to officially announce that the next on my list is Lucky Clover. The yarn has arrived and is patiently waiting in the stash.  I ordered the Rowan - my first ever Rowan - from Jannette on ebay. Fantastic service, fantastic prices. I was very impressed. I'm thinking about knitting it with short sleeves, but I haven't made up my mind yet. I'll have to cruise through the knitalong blog archives and see what other folks are up to. Anybody else notice that Donna and I seem to be knitting the exact same thing these days?

when five become one

They're done. All five body pieces of Mariah are finished and are now joined together as I slowly knit my way up the yoke. The 2nd sleeve was finished up on Friday afternoon, stopping part way through the last cable repeat, just after the last increase. That puts the sleeve around 21.5 inches from underarm to mid palm. A little long for some, but it's just the way I like it. Saturday was saved for fixing up the 1st sleeve. You may remember that I knit all the pattern repeats right to the top. I didn't clue in that I could stop part way, join at the yoke and then continue to finish the cables up towards the shoulder (yeah - I get it now, thanks.) All I needed was a little time after finishing that first sleeve before I could fo back and rip a few inches. I just couldn't rip out my first cabling project right away. I was too emotionally attached. I'm over that now.

sleeve island is lovely today

The winter in Texas is a little wonky for weather. Last week I was wishing I'd finished Mariah because it was so cold. Today it's 26°C (78°F). See? Wonky. Please don't think that I'm gloating about the hot weather, because I'm not. I spent 12 years working outside at a ski resort, I know Cold. What it does mean though is that I'll enjoy the sunshine while it's out. Today I sat poolside and worked on my second Mariah sleeve. I'm hoping to have the sleeve finished in the next couple days so that everything will be ready to join at the yoke by the weekend. Ideally we'll have some more cold days so that I'll be able to wear it once it's done.

I will however, gloat a little about the brown polka dot bag. It's really the perfect size. I can fold my pattern in half and tuck it down the side and it doesn't get all smooshed up. I hadn't even thought about that when I was making it, but I'm glad it worked out as it did.

pieces of mariah

Oooh, lookie. Matching Mariah fronts! I took everybody's advice and mirrored the left front. I eventually stopped fussing about my interpretation of the pattern and just knit it. Honestly, sometimes I can be too much of a perfectionist. Or a fuss pot. One of the two.

I'll cast on for the back tonight at SnB Splinter group and hopefully get rolling on it this week. The cold temps in Austin aren't going to last that long, so if I want to wear this sweater this winter I have to get hustling. I'll be able to take it to Boston in the spring as a coat and I'll take it to Vancouver whenever I get there again. Who knows when that'll be. I'll have to get ok'd to travel out of the country at some point. (Technically I can leave the country, the sketchy part is getting back in). I've officially been in the States for a year now. I'm amazed at how fast the year has zinged past.

more than one way to read a chart

I've encountered a few challenges while knitting Mariah. Maybe it's my inexperience at interpreting other folks' patterns, but there's been more than one 'what the?' that's come up while knitting this pattern.

In the instructions for the left front, Chart A has a 22 stitch repeat in the center of it. Feel free to read along with me: Following how it's written, I knit 1 for my garter stitch edge, worked the first 3 stitches, worked the 22 stitch repeat to point F, then worked the rest of the 22 stitch repeat (stopping again at point F so it's technically 21 sts each time through), worked the last 3 of the chart, then knit my 2 garter edge stitches. Total number of stitches = 51.

Still with me?

I finished up the left front this afternoon and went to cast on for the right front after dinner. The pattern directions weren't making much sense to me, because my thought was that the right front should mirror the left front. After a LOT of swearing and ripping, I figured I would just chart it out stitch by stitch in Excel so that I could work out the mirrors and work back to the chart from there to better understand what was meant.

Yeah. This is where my interpretation of Jodi's instructions comes out poorly. 

Here's the two versions of the left front together so you can see. The gold colours are the cables, the orange is the stockinette in groups of 2 and 4. The one I knit is the top one. The bottom set is how I think it's supposed to be.

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah.
Fuck.
That's what I said too.
So now what?
Do I rip out the whole left front and knit it correctly?
Do I mirror the dumbass mistake and knit the right front the same way?
Do I leave the left front as it is and knit the right front correctly and just call it quirky?

Is anyone really going to notice other than me?

no more procrastinating

I cast on for Mariah's left front at SnB splinter group on Tuesday night.  Apparently I'm not very good at talking about modern pre-fab architecture and concentrating on knitting a chart at the same time, because I cast on and ripped 3 or 4 times. Wednesday morning I scrapped it all and began again. I've made some good progress and now I'm into the stockinette part at the top. At this rate I might have both fronts done by the end of the weekend. First I have to finish up this resume though. As my husband said, "knitting is for closers."

Back to work I go!

the longest sleeve

I'm generally a short sleeve kind of girl. If there's a T-shirt that comes in long sleeve versions and short sleeve versions, I generally pick the short sleeve. I go crazy when wearing a long sleeve that isn't long enough. I have a need for my sleeves to be closer to my knuckles and my fingertips than to the (proper) length of just skimming the wrist bone. When I was a kid I was always pulling and tugging on my sleeves to lengthen them. It drove my mother insane and I think that's when she switched me to short sleeved shirts. Since that time, I've been really picky about my sweaters and coats.

I finished up the first of Mariah's sleeves yesterday. It's long. And when I say long? It's really, really long. Stem to stern? almost 25 inches. Longer than any of the existing sleeves in my closet. It may even be longer than my arms, but I'm not going to think about that. I am worried that they're too long, but I'm going to ride it out and finish some more of the sweater before I make up my mind. I'm thinking that if worse comes to worse, I can hem up some of the cuff.

The pattern calls for the sleeve to be at least 19" in length for the M size. If you finish the cable section, you're supposed to continue knitting until it's at least that length. I hit 19" while I was still cabling. It's funny too, because my row gauge was actually on the tighter side than what's called for in the pattern. It should be 26 rows/4" and I was getting 30 rows/4". Technically shouldn't have I been able to complete my sleeve before the pattern got to the 19" mark? I'm not too worried - I LOVE how it turned out, but it makes me wonder. I just don't think I could bear to rip out those lovely cables.