Category: cardigans

After two scarves and one blanket, even if the blanket only involved assembly and borders, I find that I am tired of square rectangular things and am itching to knit another sweater.  After all I was a sweater knitter first and foremost, even my first project was a sweater.  

 

I considered a pair of socks because I need socks, but there are some complications on that front.  Whereas I usually prefer knitting with small needles as they are easier on my arthritic fingers, at the moment my arthritis is not so much an issue as is neuropathy in my hands brought on by the course of paclitaxel (Taxol) I am undergoing as the second phase of my chemotherapy treatment.  At the moment, knitting on anything much smaller than a size US 8, or possibly a US 7 needle is extremely difficult, and even knitting on larger needles is a slow and time consuming process which requires many breaks.

 

Nonetheless, I have started a new project, a sweater I am really looking forward to wearing this fall. 

The pattern is Sweet Confection from L'atelier in Redondo Beach, California.  The body of the sweater is knit with L'Atelier's wool yarn, Wish12, and the sleeves are knit in a lace pattern using both Artyarns Silk Dream and Beaded Silk and Sequins Light.

 

The recommended gauge for this sweater is 19 stitches and 24 rows for four inches in stockinette stitch using Wish12 on size 8 needles, and 18 stitches and 24 rows in lace pattern using Silk Dream on size 7 needles.  Since I typically get gauge in wool yarns, at least stitch gauge if not row gauge, I thought this would be manageable.  The lace pattern on size 7 needles might be a challenge, but the silk yarn is also slippery, and the hope was that I could pull it off.

 

Ahh, but then I ran into problems, minor but atypical problems.  Usually I knit long skinny stitches.  When I was a younger and less experienced knitter I tended to knit very loosely and often had to go down several needle sizes.  This is rare now, but usually I get fewer rows per inch of knitting than is recommended for a given stitch gauge.  The advantage of this is that I often use less yarn than specified.  The disadvantage is that everything must be recalculated.  I've never particularly seen that as a problem though.  The point of knitting something, as opposed to buying an off-the-shelf manufactured sweater is to create something personalized to oneself.  

 

But what is the problem?  The problem here is that my painful and tingly fingers, with this yarn, and probably a small bit of mental frustration added in, are knitting short fat stitches.  As is normal for me, I knit several swatches before preparing to proceed.  Following are the results.

Recommended gauge in Wish12:  19 stitches and 24 rows in 4 inches using stockinette stitch.

Pre-blocking gauge using Wish12:  19 stitches and 24 rows in 4 inches on size US 8 needles.  20 stitches and 28 rows in 4 inches on US 7 needles.  

Post-blocking gauge using Wish12:  16.75 stitches and 21 rows in 4 inches on US 8 needles. 18 stitches and 27 rows in 4 inches on US 7 needles. 

As you can see, the yarn relaxes after washing.  Knitting this yarn on size 7 needles feels a bit tight to me, probably due to finger neuropathy  as much as anything, but the finished fabric, after blocking, which is the fabric that will actually be worn after all, is closer to the specified gauge, and is indeed has a quite lovely hand and drape.  The swatch knit on size 8 needles is too loose and floppy.  I am knitting using the size 7 needles, although this will slow the project down.

 

Recommended gauge in Silk Dream:  18 stitches and 24 rows in lace pattern.  I did not record pre-blocking gauge in the lace pattern as there seemed little point.  Post-blocking my gauge was as follows:

19 stitches and 25.75  rows in 4 inches on US 7 needles. 17 stitches and 24 rows on US  6 needles.  

 

As you can see I am coming up just on either side of the recommended stitch gauge, but right on target with row gauge with the lace pattern on the smaller needles.  Knitting on size 6 needles was more tedious than on the size 7s, but I think I can manage it.  In the worst case scenario, I will have to put off knitting the sleeves until after my treatments, when the neuropathy hopefully has faded.  I say hopefully because nearly one-third of women who experience neuropathy with paclitaxel, and 80% of women do have some degree of neuropathy on this drug, will have some degree of permanent neuropathy following treatment.  This is one of those funny things about chemo, and the way things are explained that annoys me.  Yes, it is true that "most" women recover fully, but most is a vague term at best.

 

Although the plan is to knit this sweater while I am still in treatment and still experiencing neuropathy, I have put off doing the sleeve math at this time.  We are also doing everything we can to avoid permanent neuropathy, and have reduced my chemo dosage for the last two treatments, so hopefully all will go well, even though I know I cannot count on this.

 

As noted above, on size 7 needles, I am getting one more stitch over the course of 4 inches than is specified the pattern.  This means that my sweater would be approximately 2 inches bigger than specified if I used the pattern recommendations.  This also falls in between two sizes on the pattern so I cannot simply knit a smaller size.  Since this sweater is not meant to be closely fitted, the calculation remains pretty simple however.  

 

The difference in row gauge is slightly more problematic, although not so much in terms of design as much in terms of necessary materials. The pattern calls for 5 skeins of Wish12, but I will have to knit approximately 13 extra rows on each piece of the body of the sweater.  If I rip out my swatches and add the yarn back into the sweater I would have enough yarn to add 11 rows to one piece, which would mean I would still need an extra skein of yarn.  I do not know however that one skein extra would still give me enough yarn to complete the back neck finishing.  I am also not convinced that I want to rip out my swatches.  I have been erratic in the past concerning knitting records, but am thinking right now that a more detailed knitting project book, including notes and swatches, might be useful.  I decided to order two extra skeins of Wish12.  Better to be safe than sorry.

 

 

Above is a photo of the back piece on the needles.  I am actually a bit further along than shown in this particular photo.  The pattern   specifies casting on with Silk Dream and knitting one row before switching to Wish12. Based on past experience and my own preferences, I decided that I wanted a slightly thicker band of Silk Dream at the bottom of the sweater, and knit three rows.  Given the yardage on the Silk Dream,  and that I almost always knit sleeves smaller than specified in most patterns, I believe this may be manageable without needing additional yarn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometime since the last, April, post, I made a stupid decision.  I decided not to maintain separate blogs, and abandoned this blog soon after just having started up again.  I realize now this was a mistake, a mistake brought on more by my exhaustion and frustration going through chemo than anything about either blogging or knitting. Throughout this process, my thoughts and impulses are all over the map.  

I realize now that this was simply due to the fact that I was overwhelmed and sick and feeling incapable of maintaining much of anything.  I was sick pretty much for six weeks, exhausted, unable to breathe and mostly unable to do much.  It is possible that the tide has turned, and my turn with Taxol will be easier.  The first two weeks were hell, but then I was also sick with a bacterial infection and my body was simply overwhelmed.  Yet I am still here, still fighting. I have to endure five more weeks of poison and then perhaps things will start to fall back into place.  Perhaps some of that, like this blog, can start now.

 

Conveniently, I can pick up right where I left off, with the sweater called Blueberry Season.

 

When last I wrote, I had just begun this sweater, had only knit a few inches of the body.  Despite the fact that it was knit on large, size 13 needles, I did not finish until the end of June, happily knitting two or four rows each evening, but often too tired to manage more than that small amount. 

 

I did run out of some of the yarns after finishing the body,  and only had very limited amounts remaining of some others, so I weighed and divided the remaining yarns in order to guarantee that the sleeves would be balanced and have the same striping sequence.  Even if they did not exactly match the body of the sweater, they could, at least, match each other.  

 

That worked out well, although there were a couple of yarns which I just barely stretched across the necessary knitting, ending up with only a couple of inches, just enough to weave in perhaps, at the end of a row.  As challenging as this was, it was also thrilling and a relief.  What a joy to use every last inch of something!

And yet, although the sweater is technically "finished", or at least I have declared it so on both Ravelry and the other, more general blog, it is not really finished.  Something feels unsettled, and I am not happy. with the finishing.  The sweater has not been put in my sweater drawer where it can patiently await fall.  Instead, it is languishing in a messy pile on the loveseat in the sewing room. 

 

I mentioned the finishing.  That is somewhat misleading.  I love the narrow knitted band, and it is the most successful of several variations on knitted bands I tried.  I wish I had noted them and shared them with you, but I did not, and I cannot resurrect that data now.  My issue is actually with the inside finishing.  There are many many threads, many which cannot be safely woven in without also being knotted, many that threaten to escape their bounds and drive me crazy.  

 

I contemplate a facing, thinking that will make the sweater feel more polished.  It may also help it to hang more gracefully.  When I contemplate the facing I then also wonder if I should face the hem as well.  That would require a wider facing than the front band.  A faced hem would mean that the bottom would not roll up as it does now.  A part of me likes the roll, another part of me hates it, and at this point no side has really won, but I am leaning toward straighter and more polish.  I wonder if I should perhaps simply line the entire sweater, making into more of a jacket than a slouchy old thing.  Or am I actually yearning for something this sweater can never achieve?  I admitted at the beginning that it was going to be possessed of more slouch than polish,  Did I misjudge my own sartorial inclinations, or have they too evolved as it seems every other part of me has evolved over the last few months.

 

I have managed to avoid these issues for nearly two months now, but I do actually want to wear this sweater.  It is nearly September and autumnal weather will eventually arrive.  Granted I did not really venture into the sewing room for a couple of months.  I had some lymphatic cord issues after surgery and could not lift an iron for two months, could not stand at the table and cut or pin, certainly not press.  For a while I was too exhausted and too out of breath to climb the stairs.  Convenient excuses to avoid indecision. But that has changed.  Now to move forward. 

 

I am tired this evening, bone-wearily tired, and I want to do nothing more than curl up and knit something pretty, but I will probably fall asleep before I have gotten far.  This has been the course of my life lately and who I am to argue, only to knit. 

I've been playing with these yarns, a pretty accumulation of colors and textures, and knitting well suited to my current state of overwhelm.  Best not to have a meticulous pattern in hand when one is distracted or tired, or perhaps even both. 

You can see how it is knitting up as well. Destined to be a long, slouchy sweater, this is being knit in one piece from the bottom up.  Slouchy because it will not have the structure provided by side seams, a structure I normally like, but in this case, with these yarns, this is the preferred approach.  Knit on large, size 13 needles, I will soon be far enough along to separate this at the armholes.

One more picture.  This, because I opened another mystery box from the L'Atelier mystery blanket knit-along this weekend.  I finally have enough yarn to start the blanket squares! (Yay).  Included was also this set of yarns for a sweater.  Near the knitted piece you can see the blue and the wine I was currently knitting, next to the assortment of new yarns.  A perfect pairing.

 

Now if only I can stay awake long enough to knit. 

 

 

I took a blog break last week.  I didn't really mention that fact, at least not here, allowing my more unfocused blog to serve as the platform for that announcement.  No matter really, for there was little knitting perhaps, or there was knitting but little progress.

 

I started a new project, a sweater for myself, and it has been the only project I have been working on.  Above is a photo I posted on Instagram about 11 days ago, the same photo used when I recorded the beginning of the project on Ravelry.  The pattern is called Back to the Future and it is a sweater-of-the-month from L'Atelier in Redondo Beach, CA.  The yarn is Classica DK, a lovely cashmere, and I am knitting this on size 8 needles.

I really love the way this is turning out, although it has been a rocky start.  This is no fault of the pattern, or even generally of my knitting skills on average, but perhaps more indicative of my own general state of stress and exhaustion over the past couple of weeks.   I knit and ripped the first six rows six times before I got the rhythm of the pattern and then I thought I was well on my way when I posted that first photo.  At that point I was 26 rows into the sweater, or not quite half way through the second repeat of the 18 row pattern.  So much for optimism.  Rows 27 through 36 took me another week, although I did not knit every day, and I often ended up tinking every third row or so.  Mostly I was just not paying attention as my dog was ill, ultimately fatally so, and I was more interested in cuddles than knitting.

I picked the sweater up again yesterday (Friday) after a bit of a hiatus and finished the 2nd and 3rd pattern repeats at the bottom of the sweater back and moved into the stockinette stitch that makes up the body of the sweater.    It made for a rather happy and healing day of knitting, and I am have now knit about 11 inches of the back.  Hopefully it will be smooth knitting from here on out and I am looking forward to this sweater and wearing it as well, although odds are that there will be few wearing opportunities until next fall.  You can never tell in Tennessee however. 

 

Hopefully I am also back on track with updates as well.