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Category: project – gedifra vest

  • Gedifra Vest

    Well, the Gedifra vest has been done all weekend and I just got a chance to sneak in a photo, and this one was literally taken in a quick rush to change clothes, snap and photo and rush back to whatever I was doing in a few odd moments.   

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    I do really like it and the fabric has nice body but I haven't really worked out what I am going to wear it with yet.  I was trying some potential outfits on Saturday, but DH was feeling lonely and and was therefore watching and commenting.  I simply needed time to try things for myself and wasn't ready for company yet, although that may be something I just have to get used to.  Anyway, I quickly grew frustrated with the wardrobe workout until I had a quick few moments to take a picture today.  

    I like the collar, although it can be a little overwhelming.  And I like the shape of the vest.  The combination of the shape and the body of the knitted fabric give this a bit of structure and on me I think it works best with a crisper or more tailored outfit, and soft tailored pants or these wider jeans.  Looking at this photo I can get some ideas as to where I was going wrong with my outfit-planning ideas on Saturday.

    Basically this is knit just like the pattern in the recommended yarn.  I did need just the tiniest smidge over the recommended amount of yarn, which annoys me no end.  

    Sewing the vest together was interesting and I think the designer did a nice job of planning the pieces so that the shaping and the fabric all worked together to provide shape and structure.

    This was a fast project that turned out really well and looks promising to be a wardrobe basic for some time to come.

  • Almost

    I have knitted up every last scrap of the Gedifra Highland Alpaca.

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    There is not enough yarn.  

    When I started the second piece I had doubts.  When I finished the first of the two remaining balls of yarn I was convinced there would not be enough, but I talked myself into going a little further before deciding.

    For a brief moment I thought there would be enough.  Then I fussed and worried and wondered if I had lost control over my gauge again, wondered if I could rip and reknit and possibly just get by.  I don't believe so.  The two pieces match each other perfectly for size.  Today, after unknitting my swatches and knitting them into the sweater, I broke down and ordered the final skein.

    Luckily Colorful Stitches is pretty close and UPS tells me the new skein will be here tomorrow.

  • Knitting Update

    I believe I implied the other day that there was nothing to show on the knitting front. That was not exactly true.  Work on the Gedifra vest has been progressing well.  I was just a bit cautious because I wanted to avoid excess ripping should there still be a problem with the gauge.  

    I didn't want to get very far on the front until I had the back on the blocking board and could confirm that the final measurements and gauge were still on target.  Once I got the back blocked, I was more than ready to knit the front and it went quickly.  

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    Here are both pieces, although only half of the back is visible in this photograph.

    I am getting really excited about this project, although I am beginning to fret about the available yarn and fear that I may run out before the project is finished.   I have 2 skeins left of the original 8.  Each front piece seems to be bigger than half of the back, so I am thinking that I will need more than 1/4 of the original yarn. There are also two leftover bits from previous skeins, combined they weigh another 25 grams (each skein is 100 grams).  I can also harvest another 25 grams of yarn from the two swatches, but the problem with this last 50 grams is that it is in four pieces so I might loose a little bit at the joins, unless I am really good with my spit-splicing.  250 grams ought to do it, don't you think?

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    As I mentioned in my last post, I have also started another project, this one on size 3 needles.  It is a relief from the size 13 needles I am using for the Gedifra Vest.

    I'm calling them Lemonade Wrist Warmers because I hate the term "arm cozies".  The color isn't quite lemonade color, but that is the closest thing I can think of.

    Isn't the gauge contrast wonderful?

  • MIndful or Mindless

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    It seems that gauge issues continue to plague my knitting life and once again I have spent the late hours of the evening (or wee hours of the morning depending on how you look at it) ripping.

    Normally, a Sunday night ripping of a project begun on the previous Thursday would rank fairly low on the trauma scale.  

    But the Gedifra vest is knit on very large needles (although obviously in my case too large) and moves quickly.    I had finished the back and was half done with the the first front piece when I decided to begin again, and that is what maddens me the most.  

    I don't mind ripping and starting over.  Well there is always a bit of frustration over the process, but usually the rewards far outweigh the pain of starting over.  But this time I was particularly annoyed because I had just spent most of  the evening knitting, and I had been harboring doubts all that time that the knitting just looked too big.  Damn.  One should probably always listen to those niggling little voices in the back of the head.  They are usually right.  Especially of interest was that there were two voices:  the one saying "it's too big" and the one saying "you have used far more than half the yarn, something is wrong".  

    Hence the idea of mindfulness.  If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed that things seemed off and I would have heeded that small voice.  But instead I was determined to retreat into my knitting like an ostrich sticking her head in the sand, just wanting to knit and relax and regardless of the consequences — pure mindless knitting.

    There is always a price to be paid.

    I actually did a gauge swatch.  I think I have mentioned before that my gauge swatches are often much tighter than my actual knitting.  There is always much to learn from history.  Blindly forging forward on pure emotion, instinct and adrenaline often yield lessons along the lines of "what not to do".

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    I had mentioned with Granite that I had gauge issues to begin with so one might think I would be wary with this project.  But no.  I seem to need to remind myself that knitting is more than just solace in a turbulent world.  Although this project was chosen partly for its transformative, mindless knitting possibilities, the underlying structure must still be maintained.

    And so we begin again:  with swatches.