The Summer Of No Knitting

this has definitely been the summer of no knitting. my family and i spend most of the summer at the beach and even though i packed a ton of yarn, it was just too darn hot!

i only managed to complete one project and it was probably because it was a lace weight silk!

copper raglan

pattern: elizabeth zimmerman's seamless raglan

yarn: habu textiles a-1, 2/17 tsumugi and habu textiles copper

needles: size 5, circular

i am giving credit to elizabeth zimmerman for the pattern but the truth is i just knit to my own measurements. i also added in some waist shaping since the copper would take away some of the stretch. love, love, love the copper!!! i wish the one sweater and blog post for a while could be more exciting but alas it is not.

i am working on two more exciting projects right now so until next time...

May The Force Be With You

my son is a huge star wars freak so last year i made him an adorable star wars fair isle yoke sweater. of course it is getting a little small so he wanted another one. not feeling up for all that fair isle work i convinced him that a "jedi" sweater would be soooo much cooler. he picked out some gray noro yarn and basically told me to get to work. now i was a little stuck - what would i do for a "jedi" sweater. after talking it over with some of my friday morning knitting group friends i realized all that was important was the huge hood. here is the end result:

"jedi" sweater

pattern: elizabeth zimmerman's tomten

yarn: noro shirakaba in color #2, gray

needles: #7 circular and #6 for inside of the hems

i decided to go with the basic pattern of the tomten since i knew that would give me the larger hood i needed. the biggest modification i made was to make the sweater stockinette instead of garter. once this decision was most of ez's percentages go out the window and then when i wanted to make the armholes smaller - the rest of them went out the same window!

the sweater was knit to h's measurements. i used a provisional cast on and then knit up to where i thought the sleeves should go. also, wanted the sleeves to start a little later so it would be less modular looking so i made the front and back larger and put less stitches on waist yarn for the armhole than you would for the typical tomten.

and then used a three needle bind off to make a more defined shoulder. i thought it was important for the hood to not have as much of a point so added some decreases in the center of it when i got close to the top. lastly, i then knit up the provisional cast on stitches and picked up all around the front and hood edges to form the mitered button hole band. and of course, used my favorite edge treatment - a nice neat hem. the buttons are different robot buttons i purchased at brooklyn general 2 years ago.

and there you have it - a "jedi" sweater - of course the hood should be a little bit bigger...

since i decided the rest of the summer will be spent finishing some things that have been sitting around - here are the egyptian mittens i started in january for my chicken knitting group. finally!

Glittery E

this was one of the first projects where the yarn called to me before a pattern. i saw the glittery silver threads and all the pink and just knew e would love it - sure enough she couldn't wait to put it on. in fact the pictures of her in it don't even have the buttons on it yet.

e's starry cardigan

pattern: loosely ez's seamless yoke sweater

yarn: dream in color starry, ruby river color

needles: size 3 circular

6 vintage pink buttons

went off of elizabeth zimmerman's seamless yoke sweater with lots of modifications. here are the full details of what i did...

provisionally cast on for the bottom of the sweater, knit one row, cast on 5 stitches for the steek and joined to knit in the round. from there i followed the usual seamless yoke pattern with, of course, making the sleeve wider than the original pattern calls for. the two sleeves have hemmed borders with a picot edging.

after knitting approximately one inch after joining the three tubes i knit 2 rows of purl and then doubled the amount of stitches to form the ruffle. after knitting 8 rows, i then halved the stitches right before it was time to decrease for the yoke. (does any of this make any sense?) i repeated this two more times. basically just replaced the fair isle patterns with ruffles and put two rows of purl in between.

when all that was done it was time for the steeking... wasn't as scary as the green sweater! i used the crochet method. i then picked up the cast on stitches on the bottom, up the front edge, around the neck and then back down the other front edge. knitting in the round i knit 8 rows of hem (including the button holes) with mitered corners - then the picot turn row (k2tog, yo) and then another 8 rows.

all that was then left was to sew down the hem and the steeked edges.

ta da! that's all it takes to make a very happy 2 year old girl! :)

Hello Kitty

hello kitty sweater

yarn: spud & chloe fine, pink #7808

needles: size 3 24" circular and 12" circular for sleeves

pattern: elizabeth zimmerman seamless yoke sweater

since h's star wars sweater was such a big hit i really wanted to make a fair isle yoke sweater for e. but i learned my lesson and made this one big - the star wars sweater is already getting a little small - eeks! the spud & chloe yarn has a great feel and great colors for kids - e is a little bit of pink freak...

the pattern is elizabeth zimmerman's seamless yoke sweater. have i ever said how much i love this pattern? so simple and i love how easy it is to add motifs of whatever the person is into. for e's i thought hello kitty was perfect - she loves her (and truth be told - so do i!). the cherries and hearts are basically from a sweater i saw on ravelry - subculture girl: stranded yoke pullover.

i used a lime green for the hem. have i ever said how much i love a hem on a sweater? also used the hem for the neck - i think this works fine and never feel the need for a ribbed neckline.

i have the chart of hello kitty and tried to post it but can't figure out how to do that - so if any of my fellow bloggers out there know how to paste a chart in a post, please tell me how!!!!!

next up for me - some little girl dresses and a hat for myself. plus, the house renovations are coming along so hopefully my craft room will be ready soon and i can actually sew a little...

Finished!

well, almost. it needs some blocking and buttons - but i couldn't wait to share!

ta da - the green sweater!!!!

it took a little bit of time because i had to rip out the sleeve twice! and redid how i sewed down the steeked edges. but i love how it came out - it has a real retro fit. i will get some pictures of it on after i block and get the buttons on. i am thinking of just doing some hook and eye closures - any opinions?