Cables, A Lot of Them

A while back, Elann had a bag sale on its house brand Peruvian Donegal.  I'd never used this yarn but always curious about it.  I decided to splurge after seeing the lovely feature design.  I bought two bags.  One bag is never enough for a sweater, and often two bags are too much.  I figured I can always make a vest or few hats or mittens with the extra.

I really liked the yarn when I opened up the box.  I actually just let the bags of yarn hang out in the living room and never bothered to store it.  Somehow, I knew I wanted to get to it soon, and constantly seeing it would give me some ideas what to do with it.

I did get to it in 3 weeks.  With 20 balls of yarn I decided to go with a very basic cable long coat with straight forward silhouette, big ribbing button bands and collars.  I knitted up a big swatch with a stitch pattern I found on a book.  When I started knitting, I changed the stitch pattern somewhat.  It was the same stitch count for each repeat, so no need to recalculate.  I did a quick small swatch just to see the modification of stitch pattern I had in mind would look alright.

It was a lot of cabling since there are total 11 columns of cables, and cabling twice every 10 rows.  It felt like it was going on forever especially with the longer than usual sweater length.  Cables, and more cables.

The yarn was nice to work with.  It's nothing fancy, but I really like it.  I like how basic it looks when knitted up, yet it's not too scratchy (though not next to skin wear.)  I want to make more sweaters with this yarn in different colors.   While knitting I was afraid it will get too heavy to wear with all that yarn.  But when I tried it on after sewing the shoulders together, it didn't feel heavy at all.

It came out slightly bigger on the shoulder because the ribbing tend to stretch out a bit comparing to measuring it in swatch.  That's the minor thing I'd fix it if I were to make it again.  But all in all, I'm in love with this sweater.  It's nothing clever, nothing fancy, nothing designy, just a good o' cable sweater with a belt.  It's so me.  It is comfortable,  it is warm.  Many of the sweaters I make I only wear them when I go out, and I don't wear them to work (except accessories) and they become a bit precious. The reason I can't wear them to work is I know I'll inevitably get some charcoal or paint on them.  But this one, I can see myself wearing it all the time, even to work.  In fact I wore it around the house all afternoon today 'cause it was so very snuggly and warm for this cold winter day.   

It was knitted bottom up with front and back as one piece up to armpit.  The set-in sleeves were knitted separately.   Then I pick up stitches along the front for button bands, then pick up stitches along neckline for collar, all these were done in 2x2 ribbing, so was the belt.

I had only 2 balls left.  I think I can make a matching hat.

I didn't even have to buy buttons.  I found exactly 4 buttons in my button bag that are the right size and are gray. Perfect.

I'm now dreaming of another sweater using the same yarn in brown.... or maybe white...

A Sweater and Two Pairs of Boots

I made a sweater, but let me first tell you about the new boots I bought.

This is so exciting, I actually found not just one pair, but two pairs of boots that my thick calves and wide feet can fit into.  Even better, the store had a sale of "Buy one pair shoes, get two pairs free."  So I had to grab another pair of shoes too. 

I got them at the Bass outlet in town.   I had not bought any shoes in over a year so even though I felt very guilty for spending $110 but isn't it awesome that I got 3 pairs of shoes? A girl's dream shopping day!

For those of you with nice thinner calves, you have no idea how big this is.  It's like finding Holy Grail - tall boots that fit and the not making the legs look like gigantic elephant trunks, and stylish enough. This is seriously exciting.

 

So they're not exactly the best shoes to go with the new sweater I made.  But I didn't care, I just wanted to wear them and show them off here.

Oh, and the new sweater.  I dyed the yarn with Rabbitbrush flowers that I gathered earlier this fall.  I just had this idea of dyeing varied tones to make a sweater. The flowers yield very loverly and bright yellow.  The lightest yellow were quick dips, and iron was thrown in the dye to modified it to green.  The dark greenish gray was first dyed with Rabbitbrush and iron, then overdyed with Logwood Gray that I purchased.  They were mordanted with alum.

My idea was to make a sweater that is more modern than traditional Fairisle (which I love and I may still make one with the leftover yarn - though it will have to be a vest or very short sweater with the amount I have.)   

It was knitted sideway.  First the Fairisle band, then the multi-tones folding section.  I was kinda uneasy about it because I'd never knitted anything sideway, but the calculation was so much easier than I expected.  I'd love to do another sideway sweater soon.  The construction was very simple, all st sts.

The sad part was when I blocked the sweater, the pinning stained the sweater on the lightest stripes of color.  It was so so very sad.  I used stain remover which lightened up the stains a bit, but it also created few light spots.  In the end, it looked better than the stain spots, and in real life it's not as noticeable.

 
I have to say, I really love designing my own sweaters.  Part of it comes from my not liking to follow directions (in knitting and in life.)  I tend to get bored half way through knitting a pattern, even though I have enough discipline to always finish the knitting.  With designing my own, I get to think about it as I go, which is the process I love. I very often changed ideas as I knit. I love tweaking things and trying to come up with an idea within the specific confine of the material.  For this one, I dyed the yarn first and let them sit while allowing ideas to brew. The criteria here was to show off tonal variation, yet remain simple enough even with some fairisle thrown in.   My inspiration was the aspen trees that were so breathtakingly beautiful few weeks back.   I took the verticality of the trees and combined with tonal variation of the foliage.   To capture the flickering light when the leaves rustle I thought the band of fairisle may work.  The dark greenish gray was the pine trees of the woods surrounding it to give contrast.   So I called this "Aspen".


















I

Lost and Found

I've been playing with natural dye and having tons of fun lately.

It began during my trip to Istanbul.  I had a wonderful chat with a rug dealer at the Grand Bazaar.  He was not pushy to sell at all (all we ended up buying were the cheapest things in the shop - few pillow covers, the only thing we could afford.)  After the sale, he invited us to sit down for some tea. We talked about so many things, his trips to the U.S. and his favorite place was Montana, and the friendliness and easy attitudes of Americans that most people in other parts of the world don't see.  We talked about Orhan Pamuk's books.  We talked about Turkish culture, and Grand Bazaar.  And we talked about rugs and dyes.  He said, "but natural dyes are much better. Sure they fade over time, but the colors are so much more subtle and interesting.... "  We talked about cochinal bugs, etc.  Ever since then I'd been thinking about natural dyed yarn.

I'd actually never seen knitting yarn with natural dyes before except for the ones I did with turmeric which was soooo not lightfast.  I don't mind color fading over time and that is what natural dye does, but when color fades noticeably within 2 or 3 days, it was discouraging.  So on my last trip down to Bay Area, I stopped by A Verb for Keeping Warm Berkeley store.  It was a little jewel of shop.  I was immediately drawn by the color of the natural dye yarn they have in the store.  Though I had no money left to buy any yarn there, I thought to myself, I must try dyeing some yarn myself using natural dyes.  Few weeks later, I ordered some dye from Botanical Colors and some yarn, and began my dyeing frenzy.

After much playing, I had a big load of yarn.   So I decided to at least knit coupla quick projects up to see how they look.  I made a pair of mittens for myself and a pair for Paul.  I really do love the way the colors came out.  I learned big way that different yarn takes dye so differently. Superwash yarn take up way more dye than non-superwash.  BF Leicester yarn (like the brown mittens) does not take up nearly as much dye, thus gives a more delicate coloring.

So I wrote down notes for the mittens.

Mittens 1 

Yarn: fingering weight. 

         Color A: orange, dyed with madder, color B: light gray, dyed with logwood gray.

Needles: US #2 

Gauge: 33 sts x 38 rows = 4" x 4" over colorwork pattern.

Finished Measurement: ~4 1/4" width x 9" height.

Garter Pattern (total 4 rounds): k 1 round, p 1 round, k 1 round, p 1 round.

With yarn B, CO 70 sts.

Place first marker at the beginning of the round, place second marker after 35 sts to indicate half of the round.

Work Garter Pattern once.

Begin Chart 1 over the first 35 sts, repest for the next 35 sts.

Work Garter Pattern once in yarn B.

Switch to yarn A and k 4 rounds.

Work Garter Pattern once in yarn B.

Begin Chart 2 over the first 35 sts, repeat once for the next 35 sts. 

Work all 28 rows of chart 2.

From now on, work only with yarn A.

Next round (decrease round - decrease because gauge difference of single color from colorwork knitting):  *ssk, k8, ssk, k11, k2tog, k8, k2tog. Repeat from* (total 62 sts left.)

Next round:  k all sts.

Next round (thumb placement over 9 sts):

        For right hand – k 10, slip the last 9 sts from right needle back to left needle, use 12” waste yarn and knit the 9 sts again. Resume knitting with yarn A and k rest of the round.

        For left hand – k 34 sts, slip the last 9 sts from right needle back to left needle, use 12” waste yarn and knit the 9 sts again. Resume knitting with yarn A and k rest of the round.

 (shown left hand mitt) knit 34 sts after second marker. 

  

 slip 9 sts from right needle to left needle

 

k 9 sts with waste yarn

K all rounds until 1 1/2” from finger tips. 

Next round:  slip first marker, ssk, k to last 2 sts before second marker, k2tog, slip second marker, ssk, k to last 2 sts before end of round, k2tog.

Repeat the decrease every round until only total 6 sts left.

Next round:  * ssk, slip the st from right needle back to left needle and pass the next st over it. (2 sts decreased.). Repeat from *

Cut yarn and thread it through the last 2 sts. 

Thumb:

(This is easiest with 2 needles to pick up sts. If you use other methods to work in round, it’s easiest to pick up with 2 needles first and then redistribute them as you like over needles.)

With first needle, pick up 1 st on the row to the right side of waste yarn, pick up the 9 sts below the waste yarn, pick up 1 st on the row to the left side of the waste yarn. 

With second needle, pick up 1 sts on the row to the left side of waste yarn, pick up the 9 sts above the waste yarn, pick up 1 st on the row to the right side of the waste yarn.

Total 22 sts pick up.
sts.

Join yarn, knit  in round until 1/2" from tip of thumb. 
 

  

pick up 9 sts below waste yarn, and 1 st on either side

pick up 9 sts above waste yarn, and 1 st on either side

 

pulling out waste yarn

   

ready to knit in round 

Begin shaping for thumb:

Next round:  ssk, k to 2 sts before the second marker, k2tog, ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog.

Repeat the decrease every round until only total 6 sts left.

Next round:  * ssk, slip the st from right needle back to left needle and pass the next st over it. (2 sts decreased.). Repeat from *

Cut yarn and thread it through the last 2 sts. 

 

Weave in ends.

Block.

 Chart 1

Chart 2 

Mittens 2

Yarn: Sports weight. 

Color A -  Light Brown - Dyed with Cutch, Madder and modified with iron.  

Color B - Yellow - Dyed with Rabbitbrush flowers and modified with iron.

Needles: US #2

Gauge: 30 sts and 40 rows = 4"  x 4"  (the row count is not as important since you can lengthen or shorten the mittens.)

Finished measurement: 4" width x 11" height

CO 60 sts 

place first marker at the beginning of round, and place the second marker after 30 sts. 

Use Color B and work Garter rounds for 4 rounds (k 1 round, p 1 round, k 1 round, p 1 round.)

Switch to Color A and work cable chart row 1 for 30 sts, place marker, repeat for the next 30 sts.

Continued the cable chart for the first 30 sts, and work only row 1 for the next 30 sts for the entire mitten.

Work until desired length for thumb placement (about 6" from the CO).

Next round, thumb placement over 10 sts:

      For right hand – work to second marker, work 11, slip the last 10 sts from right needle back to left needle, use 12” waste yarn and knit the 10 sts again. Resume knitting with yarn A and finish rest of the round.

      For left hand –  work to second marker,  work 29 st (1 st to the end of round,) slip the last 10 sts from right needle back to left needle, use 12” waste yarn and knit the 10 sts again. Resume knitting with yarn A and finish rest of the round.

Continued in established pattern until about 1 1/2" from fingertips (mine was another 3 3/4" from thumb placement.) 

Begin shaping top:

 (Now stop repeating cables on the first 30 sts,  just work them in row 1 only)

Next round:  sm, ssk, work in est patt to 2 sts before second marker, k2tog, ssk, work  in est patt to last 2 sts, k2tog.

Repeat the decrease every round until only 4 sts left.

Next round:  k2tog twice. 

Cut yarn and thread it through the last 2 sts.

Thumb:

(This is easiest with 2 needles to pick up sts. If you use other methods to work in round, it’s easiest to pick up with 2 needles first and then redistribute them as you like over needles.)

With first needle, pick up 1 st on the row to the right side of waste yarn, pick up the 10 sts below the waste yarn, pick up 1 st on the row to the left side of the waste yarn. 

With second needle, pick up 1 sts on the row to the left side of waste yarn, pick up the 10 sts above the waste yarn, pick up 1 st on the row to the right side of the waste yarn.

Total 24 sts pick up.

work in round in est patt (or just purl all sts) until 1/2" from tip of thumb. 

Begin shaping:

Next round:  sm, ssk, work to 2 sts before next marker, k2tog, ssk, work to last 2 sts, k2tog.

Repeat the decrease every round until only 4 sts left.

Next round:  k2tog twice. 

Cut yarn and thread it through the last 2 sts.

Weave in ends.

Block.