ShihKnits » knitpicks

The Complete Practice Swatch

winnie — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 06:32:00 +0000

It’s done, sewn in and blocked out. And it’s small.. and I knew that. The swatch started as a foray into fairisle practice, then slowly made its way to a steeking practice. I didn’t have the right yarn for it, so I picked up a few balls of fingering weight Knitpick’s Palette yarn just so I could play with it. I made it in the 34″ size too… since I want to experience the whole she-bang once… figure out what I can do better if I had the actual DK weight yarn.. and where I should pay particular attention to.
Initially, I only wanted to show you this.

But I got carried away and stuffed myself into this too-small too-tight cut-off-my-circulation vest just for kicks… (yea I need to pay attention to picking up stitches.. see where it’s wonky and holey? That’s not gonna happen when I have my real yarn)
The giant practice piece here is better suited for a 32″ bust.. if you use fingering weight yarn and sz 3 needles like I did. My next piece is so going to ROCK!

Edit: Silly me.. totally forgot the most important part. I followed Eunny’s directions to the tee… her diagrams and instructions were very well-written and made this an easy knit. Can you knit and purl? Then you can knit fairisle! Eunny, thanks for the explicit instructions and impeccable pattern.

Moment of Truth

winnie — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:57:00 +0000

Ahh..the moment of truth..will it unravel? Hey…so far so good!
Is this the largest practice swatch you’ve ever seen or what?

Knitting just for the heck of it

winnie — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 19:39:00 +0000

Ever since Eunny published her Deep Argyle Vest pattern, I’ve been itching to try it out. But the search for suitable yarn has so far been unfruitful…should I go with Dale of Norway Heilo? Or Rowanspun DK? Briggs and Little Regal? Ah… choices. So while I wait to make a decision.. I decided to just knit a practice swatch with whatever I have.. you know.. just to see what it’s like..

Knit knit knit.. ah.. crap.. I’m knitting too tightly.. I need to loosen up my tension…
Knit knit knit.. ooh.. check out that argyle pattern…
Knit knit knit.. Oi.. I have gone this far.. might as well go all the way..
Knit knit knit.. yea.. I should totally practice steeking on this while I’m at it…Yea..this thing definitely won’t fit me when I’m through with it.. but who cares? I knit for fun. And this sure is fun.. and when I finally decide on a suitable yarn, you can be sure that I will have gotten the steeking down pat. Oh.. the yarn is KnitPick’s Palette by the way, in Blush and Fog. Sz 3 needles.. Photos taken under natural light.

For Anna

winnie — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:27:00 +0000

Well lookie here, what’s that? Oh a finished Backyard Leaves Scarf for Anna!

Pattern: Backyard Leaves (Scarf Style)
Materials: 3.25 balls of Knitpicks Merino Style (DK weight) in Petal (123 yds/ 50gms), Sz 5 needles
Notes: I’ve always wondered about Knitpicks’ 100% merino yarn and lucky for me, Anna happened to choose this yarn for her SYNO scarf. This yarn is soft, albeit a bit halo-ish when knit up, but is delightful to work with. The original pattern used a worsted weight yarn and Sz 7 needles, and since my original attempts with sz 6 seemed a bit holey, I dropped down to sz 5′s. The resulting scarf is drapey and soft, and I hope Anna likes it. It’s my first attempt at knitting for another fellow knitter, so I hope the results are up to par.
The book does not tell you how to graft the two halves together other than telling you to match the leaf veins — which I found impossible to do. The 10 CO sts in the beginning were done provisionally, so in the end I just put those 10 sts back on the needle and picked up the 5 additional sts from the 3rd row and kitchener stitched it. Since I have no shame, here’s the grafted portion. Before blocking, the scarf looked very 3D. I kinda liked it the way it was, but that would be a pain to wear. So in the end, it became the 2D version after blocking.
Anna, I hope you like it. If not, let me know what I could have done better to improve it so my next participation in swapping knitted items with other knitters will be better!

SYNO progress + Sock

winnie — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 11:04:00 +0000

This is what I have on the Backyard Leaves for Anna so far. I’m knitting both halves at once, so I can avoid the 2nd half syndrome. Merino Style is wonderfully soft for this scarf, and I’m knitting the scarf on Sz 5 needles as opposed to the sz 7′z mentioned in the pattern. Then again, the pattern called for a heavy worsted weight yarn while I’m knitting with a DK weight. I hope to get this done soon and send it off so Anna won’t be cold and scarf-less in Canada. I hear Ottawa is an icebox in the winter. Just to prove to y’all that I do knit with colors other than pink, here’s my progress on Stephanie’s Spring Grass socks. I have some fingering weight 100% wool Japanese yarn in my stash and it wants to be these socks. I charted out the lace pattern in Excel so it’s easier for me to follow and so far, knitting these have been a breeze. They want to be knee-length socks. Psst.. I forgot to mention that I used Purly White’s tips on YO Short Row toes for these babies. Much much better than the wrap short rows. She posted an awesome demo and you should all check it out!

At long last…

winnie — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 00:02:00 +0000

The yarn for my SYNO swap has finally decided to appear at my doorsteps, on my birthday too! Funny how that turned out. Took the US postal service long enough. I will be knitting Backyard Leaves for Anna. It’s interesting too, since I have been dying to try out Knitpick’s Merino Style, and that’s exactly what she sent. In pink nonetheless. I predict it’s going to be an enjoyable knit.And on top of that, she sent a pack of Canadian delicacy – Smarties! Wow the last time I had those was.. um.. when I was still in college. Brings back some fond memories. And the packages didn’t stop there. My 1 skein of yarn from Uruguay arrived today too – I guess that means finishing the Clapo2 won’t be too far ahead. Perfect for fall.
Oh, I’ve been tagged by Miss McSpazzitron. It’s one I did in July, so here’s the link to it.

Giant Dish Cloth!

winnie — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 08:25:00 +0000

First of all, stripe knitting SUCKS ASS. *inhale… exhale*… May I present to you, TWO giant dish cloths. Yea, this is how far along I am on the Phildar sweater. And it has no shaping whatsoever. Do not be fooled by the slender edges of the pieces, it’s just the yarn curling. And short rows on top with stripe sequence? Har har har… bazillion loose end hell. What have I gotten myself into? That’s right, winnie, how very smart of you to do short rows AND switch yarns at the same time? *snicker snicker* I wanted to begin the sleeve knitting with tubular cast on, but at this point, screw it. Knitting 160 sts per row on sz 1 is just too, um, lovely, for words.

So, I’ve picked out my yarn for the Stitch Ya Neck Out scarf swap. And don’t worry, yet-to-be-determined-SYNO-pal, it ain’t black yarn. It’s a most lovely maroon-brown 100% superfine merino yarn. Wanna know what they’re destined to be? Click Here. Yup. I’ve wanted it since the first time I laid eyes on it, but the endless ribbing has kept me far far away. Oh don’t get me wrong, I have no qualms about ribbing, but 100% ribbing? *ponders* hm, I’d take lace knitting any day over ribbing. I am looking forward to knitting some Backyard Leaves, or Ruffles, or even Branching Out from Knitty. I understand that the first two are very popular picks.. so fear not, cuz here’s one happy volunteer who’s dying to knit them for ya.

Requisite Boring Progress Shot

winnie — Sat, 02 Jul 2005 00:28:00 +0000

Thanks to my fellow knit-bloggers who check me out from time to time, they’ve helped me figure out Phildar’s French-glish instructions. Special shout-out to Mari, who, out of the kindess of her heart, sent me an email with row-by-row instructions of the brain-fart-inducing shoulder/neck shaping described previously. The more I looked at the length of the sweater, the more it looks like pajama to me. I’ve decided to crop it down a little bit (only 2″), so we’ll see how this little stripey devil will turn out. Inspired by Tara’s short-row shoulder shaping for her short-sleeved Vogue top , I’ve insanely decided to be a short-row follower. With help from Nona’s “ask Nona” archives describing short-row shaping in detail, this Phildar stripey back currently has all its live stitches intact. Frankly, I have no idea what I am doing, but we’ll soon find out when the grafting happens. If it comes out well, I’m keeping the top. But if my spontaneous idea of cropping the top by 2″ turns out to be a disaster, I need to find me a shorter-torso buddy in a sz 4 to wear this baby.

wave Hi

winnie — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 02:26:00 +0000

This is OSW#2. And as luck would have it, I ran out of freakin’ yarn again. I only had the 1″ edging to knit, so I used some velour type yarn (cheapo) and it looks nasty — as in no stitch definition. Will frog that and use a proper cotton yarn. The purplish main body is knitted up with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, and it deserves better than the cheapo acrylic blah yarn.

Next up is my progress shot of the Phildar Stripey Top. Phildar calls it “Pull Manches Courtes”..um yea, whatever that is. It is being knit up on Sz 1 and 4 needles, and since my mom is here, knitting progress is s~l~o~w~~… this sweater will be growing very very minimally over the next few weeks. But I have one more picture to show you all, and…..

TADA!!!…. The no-sew knitted hem. Hee hee…that’s my biggest accomplishment with this sweater yet. So, I have a question for y’all. Is it just me or does Summer knitting progress slower than winter knitting? Maybe it’s just me.