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Category: project – Granite

  • Yummy Plum Sweater Debuts

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    So far Granite is holding up beautifully to a day of wear — no stretching, pulling, sagging, or pilling.  I had wondered about whether the bamboo tape would sag and stretch during the day, the "growth factor" is sometimes a factor with rayon tapes, but the recommended gauge for this pattern seems to make a dense enough fabric that it holds up well and still drapes fabulously. I think I am going to get a lot of wear out of it this fall.  

    I am really impressed with how nicely this yarn knits up and the rich sensuous weight and drape of the final fabric.  I think I need to knit something else out of this yarn.

    I envisioned the sweater as something to wear with turtlenecks and jeans and it works perfectly well.  It would also look nice with a simple tee, but unfortunately all the tees that go, color wise are either v-necks that don't look right or the neckline ends just at the same point as the top button band which I don't find particularly inspiring — ok, but not fabulous.  I think it would be better with a bit more scoop on the underlying tee with a little strip of skin between sweater and under layer.  
    This time I happened to have the perfect button in the stash:

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    This one is glass with a lilac swirl in it.  It provides just a touch of decorative accent without drawing too much attention to itself.  

    The button is round and it causes a problem if I want to wear a necklace with the sweater, as I would think that I would want a pendant or necklace to hit right at the point of the button.  Anyway I haven't been as happy with anything I have tried as I am with just the plain sweater so at the moment it is not a problem.  Anyway it gives me an excuse to pile on the bangles instead.

  • Granite

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    Granite is done and I love it!

    After the initial gauge issues knitting went smoothly and my initial reaction is that I love the look of the sweater and I love the drape of the knitted fabric.  

    When I have finished knitting a garment but haven't yet gotten it put together I always panic a little bit, worrying if I made the right design decisions, if I made the correct alterations, if the garment will look as good on me as it did in my mind's eye while I was knitting it.  I know it should work, but there always lurks a little bit of doubt.

    Of course I still have to see how it holds up to being worn.  But I am looking forward to the test run.

    Model shots to follow.

  • Almost Done with Granite

    It seems I always miscalculate how long it actually takes to finish a sweater after it is knitted.

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    I cleared about half the sewing room cutting table, enough that I could set up the blocking board or work on some simple sewing projects.  Yesterday I got granite blocked with the idea that I would finish it today.

    I am not sure if I actually forget how long assembly takes, or if I just over-estimate the available time.  It is probably a combination of both.

    Needless to say the sweater is not completed yet, so there are no finished photos.  The shoulders are seamed and the neckline has been finished.  I need to use the cutting table to sew in the sleeves and the side seams, as I am more comfortable laying those out neatly on a flat surface before seaming.    At the moment another project is occupying the cutting table.  I hope to be able to finish tomorrow.

    In the meantime I am drooling over the aqua Gedifra yarn (see last post) and I carried it around with me yesterday but instead I got all wrapped up in the newspapers and reading the business and financial sections.  Then I was trying to sort out all the information in my head, making notes and trying to compile and make sense of everything I read and what I thought of it.  I am the kind of reader who always has to write out passages make notes on things I want to remember.  I don't necessarily save the notes, but it helps me pull my thoughts together.  Anyway, as you can probably surmise, trying to knit my thoughts into a coherent whole was more time consuming than I had planned.  

    So, in my usual fashion, I shall just pin great hopes on tomorrow.  I intend to finish sewing up Granite and start the next project.  We'll see what actually happens.

  • Progress

    Now that Granite is going much more smoothly, I have been a knitting fiend.  The US Open and televised coverage of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week have contributed mightily.  I should never have learned about the fashion week coverage.  It was a happy accident.  And it has been good for my knitting, but probably bad for everything else in my house.

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    The back of Granite is on the blocking board, and the front is moving along quickly.

    I have learned a few things:

    1.  I much prefer knitting on circular needles.   I suppose I knew that, but I didn't realize how much faster I knit on circulars.  I also think the weight of the yarn on straight needles may have been a contributing factor in my gauge issues.

    2.  If I am knitting on straight needles (as I am for the body of this sweater) I knit much more quickly, and much more consistently if I carry my yarn in my left hand and pick, rather than throw the yarn.   I never realized this.  I taught myself to knit either left or right-handed fairly recently.  It never occurred to me that there might be times when it was better to carry in the left, as I naturally gravitate toward using my right hand. Now that I am carrying the yarn in the left, the knitting is speeding along.  Cool.

    3.  If I like knitting on circulars, and all my size 7 circulars are occupied in various projects I should either finish some projects or buy some more circular needles.  I don't suppose I have to tell you which option I chose.

  • Who says Angora sheds??

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    Some people never learn.

    I knew that waiting around was in the cards for today.  I knew that I would be knitting while I waited.

    So why did I wear black cotton pants when I knew I was knitting with a lilac angora blend?

    The sleeves of Lilac Serenade are now completed — but not yet on the blocking board.  I can probably still get that to happen tonight.  I had hoped to start putting the sweater together tomorrow, but the sleeves will probably not be dry. 

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    And it ends up I have another waiting-room spell to attend to tomorrow.  So I spent part of the evening swatching for the next project.  

    No I am not finishing a UFO.  At least I am starting something that was on my queue.

    Presenting Granite from Rowan 43 in color Amethyst Bamboo Tape.  I even did the math for the (few) alterations.  

    At least this won't shed on my clothing.  And I should be able to wear the finished sweater well into Autumn.