Grey Sweater

I have finished the handknit portion of the grey sweater front. Now I can hang the sweater on the knitting machine and do the plain portions, then seam up the front. It will be relaxing to do a pullover and not to have to bother with bands and buttonholes.




I also have started the next pair of socks. I am using Trekking XXL, Color 133. This yarn is surprising me, because somehow I didn't think the color stripes would be so wide. I just liked the color combo in the ball. I am also in the process of setting up the LK150 in the girls' room to try knitting a sock in regular sock yarn. So far I have just used Baby Soft (which has a high nylon content), and that worked well.

While I am at it, I want to put in a rave review for the Brittany wooden cable needles. You can see one of them in the top photo at the bottom of the sweater front. They are little and fatter toward the ends, and are even better than my late lamented wooden cable needle of unknown brand that went walkabout some time ago. I need to go buy a few more sets of these Brittany needles because they are fab.

Retro Knit Friday!

Today we will have a blast from the past and visit the mod sixties. This Columbia Minerva booklet from the late sixties features mostly shift dresses in knit and crochet. We will also have a few celebrity sightings. The yarns used in these dresses were of a woven nylon tricot (Tropicale) and of a linen-like synthetic (Scamper). The cover shows two mini-dresses, the one on the left knitted, and the one on the right crocheted.

While you are looking at the wonder of these two dresses, note the model on the right who is none other than Cybill Shepherd of Moonlighting fame.

The pink dress is not too bad, it is just that the proportions are off somehow on this model. Note the model on the right who is Jennifer O'Neill from the Summer of '42, which at the time the picture was taken was about 3 years into her future.

Here's Cybill again in a nice little dress and jacket combo. I can remember how uncomfortable mini-dresses were, especially in school. You really had to watch how you sat, and later on, teacher friends would tell me how they had to keep their vision focused above the heads of their audience because the girl students were providing such a graphic view.

I have started the grey sweater but haven't made much progress yet. I got distracted putting up the millions of apples that needed processing into applesauce. This morning I packaged up the last of the sauce and froze it. Now I have over 30 pints of applesauce waiting for winter.

This is the cable M has chosen for the grey sweater. It looks fairly easy, just have to follow the chart.

Here are a few ideas I am working on. I really like this sweater for M. It is from the Nashua Handknits North American Designer Collection No. 4. I like the crossover front and lace midriff.

This sweater from Interweave Spring 07 has some interesting design features also. I like the ribbing at the midriff and the lace details. I would make it with sleeves of some kind though and put a better border around the V neckline. The tie belt is out of proportion to the sweater and detracts from it.

Looks like it will be a little warmer today so I had better go turn on the AC. Tomorrow A is coming over to visit so I am going to make meatballs and gravy for dinner.

Still Reading

Still reading Harry Potter and not doing any knitting. Haven't started the grey sweater and don't have a pair of socks on the needles. Here's the latest cardigan all finished and a closeup of the cable detail up the front. Just a simple sweater with a lowered neckline and 3/4 sleeves.


I

My latest acquistion, some sock yarn by Shibui. These are the hazards of going into the yarn shop with your daughter and planning not to buy anything. The shop owner said the yarn had only been in the shop for one day and that they had already sold 5 skeins of this color before I got there. M got the same yarn in a really terrific pink/apple green colorway which I wanted too, but she got the last two skeins.

Well, back to my reading. I am up to the escape from Gringotts.

Finally

Off to buy the new Harry Potter.

Retro Knit Friday!

I finished the fuchsia cardigan and am now starting in on the grey pullover with cable panel. Now that I have found the afghan I was working on and have made a few more squares, I am remembering how my grandmother used to make tablecloths of fine cotton crochet thread. She must have given them all away because we don't have any of them, but she was always crocheting something. Imagine making an item that required hundreds and hundreds of little squares. She would have memorized the instructions, of course, and worked away while watching her favorite shows. I remember that she was fond of a soap opera called Young Doctor Malone and of a cowboy show starring Chuck Connors called Rifleman (because she said the little boy on the show looked like my brother). She also liked anything with Victor Jory in it because she had once met him in real life.

Today's booklet dates to 1958 and highlights one of those banlon dress yarns that were so popular through the 70's. The one I am most familiar with is Bucilla Paradise because the store where I was a knitting instructor made me knit a dress out of it (at my own expense). The booklet says that Bucilla Glace was made of Ban-Lon and lofted Estron (not sure what that is) and contains no wool at all. It also claims that dirt 'practically rolls right off' and that it was quick drying. So it must have made nice resilient garments good for traveling. Most of the garments I designed for ladies during my stint as a knitting instructor out of Paradise were for cruisewear.

The cover outfit is a blouse and pleated skirt knit on size 3 needles at 7 1/2 sts/inch. This would make attractive cruisewear, and it looks like that is what it is designed for, since the model appears to be standing on a ship deck. The collar is nicely designed, being a peter pan collar knit in 4 pieces. It starts out at the neck edge with ribbing which then changes to stockinette, which is probably what gives it the nice stand.


The lovely polka dot dress is made by the intarsia method with bobbins. The center of the dots on the front bodice are studded with rhinestones. Because of the popularity of argyle socks in the forties and fifties, knitters were more familiar with color knitting with bobbins. Girls used to knit argyle socks for their boyfriends during those years. I wonder if the knitting curse applied to argyle socks?

The suit is double-breasted with pockets and kimono sleeves. All these garments have the same gauge, 7 1/2 st/inch. These yarns would have made nice straight skirts because they were very resilient so the seat would not sag after awhile.








The sheath dress is not polka dot but has daisy motifs embroidered all over it after the knitting is completed. The ascot is included as part of the pattern, and it is knitted from a ribbon yarn with the classy name of 'Ruban d'Art'. There was a theme during the fifties to highlight a long willowy neck, so you will see shirt collars turned up or longer neck treatments such as this one.

Did you ever think you would see a crochet dress worn with a mink stole? The body of the dress is made with Glace and the ribbon yarn held together.

The blouse has seed stitch borders around the neck and front opening and lace panels to simulate tucks. It is drafted up to a size 20, which at the time was only a bust 38.

This lovely lace sheath dress is knit in two sections, a skirt and a 'waist' and sewn together at the waistline. A very 50's cocktail dress worn with a velvet ribbon belt.

Now I am off to listen to a book-on-tape and knit on the machine. Tomorrow the Harry Potter book comes out. the bookstore says I can pick up my reserved copy at midnight tonight, but that is not going to happen.

Prettiest Book

My poor camera needed recharging so the picture is a little fuzzy, but you can see that I have done the seaming on the next sweater. I now just have to do the bands and buttons. After this one is done, I will start in on the grey heather pullover with the cable panel up the center front. I have found a cable that I like in Viking Patterns For Knitting by Elsebeth Lavold. M asked for a Celtic-looking cable.




The book is an old volume printed in 1942. It unfortunately had some strange dye in its red cover that rubbed off on everything, so I asked my daughter, A, to cover it for me. Ever since she was in high school, she covered her books with great skill, and the covers would last the whole school year. We picked out a very nice wrapping paper which she covered with clear contact paper, then covered the book, including labels printed on the computer. Even though the book just slips into the cover and is not harmed in any way, the cover is stationary and strong, not to mention lovely. It feels nice, too, on the hands.

Here is my new sock yarn, purchased at Knitting-By-The-Sea in Carmel. I am intrigued by the Tofutsies because of the interesting fiber content, and the Cleckheaton Cocoon is a suggestion from the lady in the shop. It was in the baby yarn section, but it has 70% Merino wool and 30% nylon and is soft beyond belief. I am going to make the Fiber Trends Leaf Lace Socks for M. I have tried to knit that pattern before, but the yarn was black and was a lot of work for a lace pattern you couldn't even see on the black yarn.

Now I am going to watch Mostly Martha, a DVD I got at the library and work on the sweater bands. This movie looks to be an earlier German version of the new Catherine Zeta Jones movie, No Reservations.

Retro Knit Sunday!

We were out of town on Friday, driving to Monterey for business. After dropping my husband off at his office, I made my first stop at Knitting-By-The-Sea in Carmel. They had a lovely selection of sock yarn, and the location could not be prettier. I got about 4 skeins of sock yarn to enlarge the stash, including some solid color lime green to knit a pair of lace texture socks.

In other news, the green sweater is all finished. I was happy at how this turned out, and it really looks good on M. The low 'U' neckline is surprisingly attractive. I am now assembling the fuchsia pink version with a slightly higher neckline and cable-fronts.

I inherited a box of knitting and crochet patterns from my husband's aunt. Apparently, she liked to send away for this brand of patterns, which were advertised in magazines and the Parade magazine insert that came in the newspapers. She never actually made up any of the items, just liked buying the patterns, I guess.

The first two patterns are from the sixties and are shift dresses with front detailing. Both are quite nice looking.

This A-line dress is a little strange, and I wonder if anyone ever really made this one up.

This little cape pattern is crocheted, and is from the 50's. This would look great with those retro dresses lots of people are sewing now.

This cardigan, crocheted in a pineapple design, looks very nice in the illustration. I wonder how these designs looked in real life, but that would depend on the yarn and the skill of the person who made it.

I don't know why this pattern is called 'Knitted Suit" because it only includes patterns for 4 skirts.

A crocheted summer topper.

A boxy jacket from the early sixties done by joining individual motifs. A lot of these patterns are attractive, usable designs.




M and I were discussing the next sweater to make, after I put together the fuchsia pink cardigan. We decided that I should make a heather grey pullover version of the green cardigan with some kind of cable panel up the center front. To that end, I broke out my copy of Viking Knitting to choose one of the cable patterns. I think I am going to knit the cable pattern by hand, then seam it into the pullover, which will be knit on the machine. I do this by knitting the ribbings, putting all the stitches on holders except for the panel stitches, adding extra stitches for seaming on the sides of the panel, and knitting it up. But first I have to set the sleeves into the fuchsia pink sweater.

Faced Band

We have all seen those sweaters where the buttons are too heavy for the band and cause it to sag, or the tension on the button causes the band to pull unattractively. In addition, I needed a nice strong band to sew a button on so securely that no child could pull or chew it off. To solve these problems, I experimented with a faced band and came up with one that works well for me. The top side shows the ribbed band, and the underside is plain stockinette. Here's how to do it:

1. Determine the gauge of your ribbing. I just use the ribbed band on the bottom of the sweater. Don't stretch it to measure the gauge.

2. Compare the rib gauge to your garment row gauge and figure out how many stitches to pick up in how many rows. For example, my ribbing is about 5 sts/inch and the row gauge of the garment between 6 and 7 rows/inch, so I pick up 5 sts out of every 6 or 7 rows like this:

I o II o I o I o I o I o II o I o I o I o I o II

where the I's are the bars along the side and the o's are the picked-up stitches. So I pick up one stitch every row five times, then one every other row one time etc.

3. Knit the ribbed band. In worsted weight, this means 7 or 8 rows for me.

4. Knit a turning row. You are going to switch to plain stockinette stitch, but the gauge of that stitch is different from that of ribbing, so you have to decrease the stitch count. I do that by purling across a right side row like this:

Purl 4, Purl 2 tog (repeat across row)

You can just barely see the purl row in the picture.

5. Now switch to stockinette stitch and knit until the length matches that of the band.

6. Bind off loosely but not too loosely.

7. Sew band facing down on the inside with a whip stitch, not too tight. To close up the top and bottom, a whip stitch tends to look best if neatly done.

If you are making a single layer button band and still don't want the buttons to pull on the fabric, you can use a button on the top, and a button underneath and sew them on at the same time. This is tricky, but works great. I use the fashion button on the top and any plain shirt button underneath, usually smaller than the top button. Clear shirt buttons look great. The button underneath adds great stability to the band . This method wouldn't be used on kid sweaters, however, because they would just chew off the smaller button.

Progress

I have all the seaming done on the green cardigan, just have to knit the bands. I had a hard time finding buttons for this color, but eventually found a shell type button that picks up the color of whatever it is placed on. This yarn is Caron Simply Soft, which is a nice soft yarn that will work well for a girl who likes to throw everything into the washer and dryer, and it is very affordable. The total cost for this sweater, including the buttons, will be about $10.

I went to the library yesterday and got a few videos or DVDs, so I am going to watch movies and work on the bands today.

I got all the parts knit for the fuchsia pink sweater and ended up putting two thin cables down each front. It is the same general shape of the green cardigan, but the neckline is a little higher. The neckline for the green cardigan started at the same height as the armhole bindoffs.

My stash busting is progressing nicely, but suffered a setback yesterday when I came home with 4 big balls of yarn in a lovely yellow color.

Fuchsia Pink

I have done the back and two sleeves, and I am trying to decide what kind of fronts to do. Plain sweater? Cabled fronts? Crew neck? Decisions, decisions. I am listening to Under Orders, a Dick Francis book, while knitting. I take the sleeves off on knitting needles, visible in the picture, and cast off loosely by hand. This gives me a nice flexible top for seaming. I set the sleeves in with the Japanese method of crocheting a seam. I find that this makes a smooth, attractive seam. I often split the yarn for this so that the seam is less bulky.

I am a little behind in the finishing. I now have two sweaters waiting for seaming and bands, the Fiesta pullover, and the green, lace-panel cardigan. I also have about a bushel of apples waiting to be turned into applesauce, but I am not feeling the apple-peeling vibe. And the peaches are getting ready to be ripe. The older daughter got home from her trip to Disneyland and immediately went into the back room to see if her green sweater was done, but she was doomed to disappointment. Maybe in a week or two.

Retro Knit Saturday!

I knit the green sweater in two days of morning knitting. The back and one front were done on one day, and the other front and two sleeves the next day. Now I have to put them together and do the bands by hand. Meanwhile, I have been planning the next cardigan, this time in fuchsia pink. As you can see, I have knit the ribbing and made the yarn cakes. The green sweater is for M, but the pink will be for me.

Yesterday I went to a local thrift shop and found these old knitting pamphlets. Most are from the sixties, but one is from the fifties.

I love the Bernat Handicrafter booklets and have quite a few of them. Some of them have pictures of other volumes on the back cover, so I keep looking for the ones I don't have yet. This one is Book No. 41 from 1954. It has "Jumbo Knits for The Family".

The cover shows a version of the boxy jacket popular in the fifties. The most popular version has turn back cuffs on elbow length sleeves, but this version has longer sleeves with standard ribbed cuff. It is knit at 3 sts/inch with a bulky weight yarn.

I particularly like this shrug, and may make one for my younger daughter. It is knit in knitting worsted weight on size 10 needles at 4 sts/inch. The little girl version is cute, too.

This jacket has 3/4-length sleeves and two colors of bulky yarn knit at 3 sts/inch. The pockets are real pockets, not just for show, and there are no buttons.

Two more classy jackets, one short and boxy and both with cuffs, and one in a pattern stitch. Both are knit of the bulky yarn, Bernat Cuddlespun at 3 sts/inch.

Today is much cooler, so I am planning to listen to a murder mystery and knit on the fuchsia pink sweater. M is off to Disneyland with friends, and joked about seeing the green sweater all finished when she returns in a few days, but this is not going to happen. It will be months before it is cool enough to wear anyway, unless she goes into the City, which is famously cold during the summer.

Back at the Knitting Machine

On my first day back at the machine, I planned out a new cardigan for M, seen in the sketch. It will have lace panels on the fronts, deep 'U' neckline in front, and 3/4 length sleeves. I was able to knit the back and one front before we had to go off to the 4th of July BBQ at the brother-in-law's place way out in west county.

These next two days are supposed to be hot hot hot, so I will only be knitting in the morning before the heat gathers strength.

Here is the second front started on the machine. I like to listen to books-on-tape while I knit.

Tuesday, my sister came over and brought the used knitting machine I had gotten for her. She and her husband had been unable to get it to knit, but we oiled it and fixed a bent needle latch, and then it knit like a charm. It is an Elna Standard. I will soon have introduced both sisters and one daughter to machine knitting.