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Category: project – Aiko pull

  • The First Week of Summer

    Remember those essays we used to have to write the first week back in school — "what I did on my summer vacation"?  Well, here’s what I did the first week of summer:
    Painted4x4s_1

    That’s right, I stained 4×4’s, 33 of them, with two coats of oil-based stain.  The second coat went on 1 – 2 hours after the first for maximum penetration into the wood.  It was a real pain in the *** working down low like that, but I did not have enough room on the sawhorses for all of the beams.

    And yes, I DID finish a knitting project!  Aiko is done.  Here she is sunning herself on the newly painted (and dried) lumber:

    Aiko8Now there was a small problem with Aiko, namely that I did not really like the neckline when I finished it.  As you can see in the original pattern Aiko sweater  the neckline is kind of a wide mock neck, meant to frame the face but not hug the neckline.  Well I should have realized from the artful photo, that they couldn’t get the neckline to hang so nicely.  The model probably has a bunch of knitting pinned up behind her neck.  Either that or she has a much wider neck than I do.  If I had been thinking when I read the pattern I would have realized that 8 inches wide across the neckline is too wide for me.  I may not have narrow shoulders  but either I have a narrow neck or they design patterns way too big.  Usually 6-7 inches across the neckline is all I want.  I should have adapted the pattern for less width and perhaps a liitle more depth if I needed extra room to pull it over my head.   

    I ripped and redid the neck as a close-fitting turtleAiko9 which did not work because the neckline edge was still too wide and I thought it looked funny.  Then I went back to the original design and just picked up the stitches and knit the ribbing straight up, making it a little longer than suggested, and going up one needle size at the halfway point so I could turn the collar over.

    I actually like it this way, with the collar folded down and I like the way it sits just off my collar-bone, framing the face.

    It is too hot to wear heavy cashmere today so this is all you get to see.  The only reason I could tolerate this photo was that I just came out of the pool and my hair was wet (personal air-conditioning) and I went right back in the pool as soon as I got this hot thing off.

    I am progressing on my other projects.  Bettina has been put together and I just need to crochet the edges.  I might do that tonight.  I have been working on other things today, cutting out a bunch of sewing projects, but if I get tired of that I might go back to knitting.

    Wine&Roses is still on Matilda.  I think I will weave in the ends with her on the dressform.  At the moment I am going to leave the fringe along the front edge, because I really like it there, and try to think of a way to incorporate the fringe into the front band.  I haven’t really addressed what I am going to do about the front band anyway.

  • The End of the Line

    I finished knitting Bettina and she is on the blocking board:
    Bettina4

    In order to claim her rightful place she had to evict Aiko, who had been claiming the board for far too long, mostly because of seamstress neglect.

    Aiko6

    Of course, Matilda is still wearing Wine&Roses, waiting for me to weave in those ends.  I have managed to walk by her every day and note that the ends need weaving but make no further effort to do so. 

    Winerosesa11_1
    The moment of truth has arrived; I need to finish something.  I cannot, in good conscience, start a new project while continuing to ignore the growing pile of "someday sweaters".

    Which one will be finished first?

  • Love and Knitting

    Travelling has been good for Aiko as I finished knitting last night.  By the time I landed in Newburgh Tuesday I was only about 12 rows shy of finishing, but with unpacking and all the chaos at home after an almost three week absense (two trips), I did not manage to pick it up again until yesterday evening.   

    Here are the two sleeves:

    Aiko4 The light is not great for photographs and I can’t go outside as it rains and rains..I am apparently supposed to be looking forward to a yucky sucky rainy week and weekend and it is COLD!! Maybe I better finish a nice warm wool sweater… who would have thought I would be craving cashmere for Memorial Day?

    Last night was Tabasco’s official LOVE ME night as she crawled up in my lap and clung to me with very sharp claws if I shifted position or God forbid, dared to get up and move around.  Who can blame her?  First I left for 10 days — well, granted her dad was home, but he’s not the same, and then after only two days back, we both left for another four days.  The poor beast was affection-starved!!

    Here she is rolling around at my feet after I finished Aiko and thought I would work on the last sleeve of Wine&Roses for a while:

    Tabasco2 Wine and Roses was not a successful project as it seemed to  compete with catly attention demands too much.   Since I had to keep searching for a new ball of yarn every row I kept shifting around and fidgeting.  I now have numerous scratches and puncture wounds in my legs to pay for my crimes.  I eventually had to give up and let my hands be content stroking downy soft cat fur.  First things first, after all.

    I left Wine&Roses on the blocking board when I left and shamefacedly I must admit it is still there waiting with baited breath for the long promised sleeves.  Well I have 26 rows left and hope to finish them today or tomorrow, maybe Saturday as I have to go into NYC tomorrow evening.  I will not take this project on the train.  I can just see myself rumaging through my bag of multiple yarns searching for the next color, balls of yarn falling out of the bag and off my lap and rolling around on the train between everyone’s legs.  Its not goint to happen!  As soon as I can get it done, however, I can block Aiko and get both projects FINISHED.

  • Not Much Knitting..

    I am still in San Francisco and not much knitting is happening here.  However the sewing week ended last night and I thought I perhaps had more patience and down-time to connect and update you on my progress.  The high-speed internet connection is still not working in my room but I perhaps have more time now that I am not rushing up to either the sewing room or to dinner, and thought I could work through the more tedious telephone connection.

    Here are photos of Wine and Roses, which is languishing at home on the blocking board, waiting my return:

    Wineroses5 As you can see, there are many ends to weave in.

    Wineroses6

    I have been thinking about the ends and realize that weaving in will be somewhat tricky because of the blend of fibers, some of which are quite ravelly and will have to be knotted.  There might be some way to knot them together and then deal with the ends in a decorative but still flat and neat way.  More research will be required when I get home.

    I have made a little progress on Aiko, about 3 1/2 inches up into the sleeve shaping.  I might finish the front before flying on Tuesday, when I will start the sleeves.

    Aiko5 Most of this was knitted yesterday in the van while Dan drove  our sewing group around the bay area for some fabric shopping. 

    Tomorrow I will go to ArtFibers and I will update you on all the wonderful details.

  • In San Francisco

    Last week was a really stressful week, with computer problems in the office requiring me to work late every night.  Needless to say a lot of knitting was not accomplished.  I did finally block the body of the Wine and Roses cardigan, although I only knit about 4 more rows on the last sleeve.  I was too tired in the evening to even manage selecting the next yarn in the sequence. 

    I did work on Aiko on my flight to San Francisco yesterday and had an interesting time frogging  a section on the little turn down tray table they provide on the plane.  The front is completed up to the beginning of the armhole shaping so it is progressing nicely.

    My San Francisco trip is really a sewing week and I don’t usually get a lot of knitting done while I am here, but I do hope to post a picture of the progress on Aiko soon.  Otherwise, the only knitting related activity for this trip will probably be a visit to Art Fibers, a really neat yarn shop a few blocks down Sutter from here.  They have a really unusual yarn selection and I will keep you informed if I pick up anything really interesting.  Hopefully by that time the ethernet connection in my hotel room will be working and I can post pictures.

  • The fickle knitter

    I have failed in my attempt at monogamous knitting.  So much for good intentions.  After finishing the back of the Aiko sweater I could not get myself motivated for the front.  I love the sweater and love the yarn but am too tempted by other things right now.  Besides am I going to be wearing cashmere in the near future?  I hope not.

    I finally ripped out the entire front;  all 3 inches of it — as you can tell I had not gotten far.  My heart wasn’t really in it.  It took me several tries at casting on.  Even then, I couldn’t keep the pattern straight and it is a simple pattern, I kept dropping stitches in the middle of crosses.  No fun. 

    Still I hated the thought of starting something just to abandon it for two weeks after only a couple of rows or inches (if I am lucky).  So I tackled the unfinished sweater pile.

    First I finished this:

    Knitting2005_001 

    I actually knit this in April 2003 on a trip to Knoxville and Hilton Head.  We met Rich who is now my step-son-in-law on that trip.  I never meant for the sweater to sit before I knit it up.  In fact I wanted to wear it.  But I came home from the trip and threw the bag with the completely knitted but unblocked sweater  in a box and forgot about it.  Then I bought more yarn and threw that on top of the sweater in the box, and well, you know what happened next, it was totally lost.  Recently in trying to make some order out of chaos, I unearthed this sweater.  It was pretty easy to finish as it was knit all of a piece.  This photo shows the neckline unfinished, as the pattern recommended, but I couldn’t accept that.  I have knit a little rolled stockingette band.  The photo with the neckband did not come out as well as this one though so you will  just have to imagine it.

    I also got a sweater on the blocking board:

    Knitting2005_003

    This is a duplicate of a top I knit a few years ago.  The original was a favorite and this summer I got a big pink stain on the middle of the chest (beets perhaps?).  I really couldn’t imagine my summer without the sweater so I knit another one last fall, in September actually.  The pattern was from Vogue Knitting, Spring Summer 2000 and was knit in a Adrienne Vittadini yarn, Miranda.  The new version was knit in Elena by Filatura di Crossa and I actually think I like this better.  The guage is actually the same but the sweater is lighter and scrunchier.  I am looking forward to wearing it.

  • new travel project

    A little knitting has been done and I finished the back of the pink cashmere.  I really am only working on one project right now.  I have been fighting the urge to start another because the pile of unfinished projects, all requiring blocking or ripping out, is larger than I would wish.  I should block one of the simpler ones up and get it out of the way before we leave on the Brazil trip next week.

    I have also been devoting a lot of my time to sewing, a risk when one wants to do too many things.  When we return the garden will be crying for a lot of attention as well, but then, I will be tired from working in the yard and will look forward to collapsing in my chair with my knitting.

    I do need a sweater to take on the Brazil trip, and I am not interested in hauling hot pink cashmere to the Amazon.  I think I have settled on a sweater from the fall S. Charles Collezione book, here, knit in a rayon blend yarn called Venus.  I got the guage swatch to work, which took a few tries since I always have more trouble with row guage and the sweater is knit side-to-side.  But I really like working with the yarn and the swatch has a nice feel and hand.  I ordered this sweater in early November and the yarn just arrived last month, which reminds me that if I want any of the Tahki/S.Charles/Filatura novelty yarns for spring I need to order them soon as they do not tend to stay in production long.  It is hard to think of spring knitting when the fall sweaters keep arriving.

    I toyed with the idea of socks,  I have been in a socky kind of mood lately, probably because my feet have been cold, which is strange because I really don’t wear socks that much.  I enjoy knitting socks, but don’t really indulge myself since I never wear the socks I knit — it somehow seems a waste.  However they are small and portable so perhaps I will reconsider, but not for this trip.  They would be great for the train as I get tired of hauling around a big bag just to hold my knitting.

    I am always torn between my love of cables and interesting knitted textures and interesting color designs in plain wool and cotton, and the love of fashion and design which keeps cycling in all these interesting yarns.  I do usually like funky yarns in simple shapes and simple yarns with more detail in the work.  Generally I am learning that I like to wear really simple knitted things so it is hard to find something that is fun to knit and that I will actually wear. 

    For example there is a great sweater in the spring Rowan, book 37, "Charm" by Martin Storey, which is really a very simple moss stitch pullover with 3/4 length sleeves.  It is the kind of sweater I would wear all the time, the charms and beads make it especailly appealing, but it would be totally boring to knit in cotton glace on  3.25 mm needles.  Still I might knit it because it is so nice.  Why can’t I find some wonderful interestingly patterned sweater to fall in love with?  I suppose the plain knit sweaters are the ones to buy and I can knit the interesting ones; hmmm, more thought required, but I like the option of getting the fit and color I want when I knit it myself.

    I did go to group tonight, which was great, as I had not been in ages, probably months.  There was something about this winter, perhaps the fact that it often seemed to snow on Tuesdays, which made getting to group difficult.  It was so nice to see everyone andI was just so happy to be there.  I worked out my guage swatch for the travel sweater and then I cast on the front of the cashmere sweater although I probably won’t get that far with it before we leave.  I was so entranced by the conversations and being with knitters that I kept loosing track of my knitting.  I had to cast on three times, and still kept loosing the count on the pattern. Finally I got everything going just as it was time to leave.

  • Current Knitting

    Am I knitting?  yes, but not as fast as I had anticipated.  I am working on a beautiful fuschia cashmere sweater out of Aiko from Filatura di Crossa, one of the patterns from the Filatura di Crossa Fall 2004 Collection, Diamond Twist Pullover.   I loved the sweatApril2005_001_2er and the yarn, but had not been sure about the colors.  From the tiny sample on the card, I was afraid it might be too bright but Theresa at L’Atelier convinced me that it was more a deep fuschia than a bright one, and encouraged me to get it.  Of course, that was another sale for her, but she has never steered me wrong on a color yet and I am grateful for the suggestion because I love the way this is knitting up.

    Admittedly I naively thought I would finish this sweater in March, and a month is not bad for me for a sweater, but I have not put as much time into as I had hoped.  I cannot honestly say I haven’t had time to knit, just that I have too many things that I want to spend time on and sometimes knitting gets short shrift. At other times I might knit to the exclusion of other activities.   

    I did hope to work on it on the way to and from NYC last night and I did, more on the way down than the way back.  The concert, A Midsummer Nights Dream, at Avery Fisher Hall, was wonderful but long.  It did not end until after 10:30 and we did not make it back to Grand Centeral in time  for the 11:00 train.  By the time we got on the midnight train I was tired, having gotten up at 5:00 AM and I slept for half of the trip.  My sleeping habits have been very funny lately, as have my knitting habits.