The Fish Knits

So this is how it feels to have you butt kicked by a sweater. Those last 2 skeins of Cash Iroha? Guess what. They didn’t do the trick. How is that possible?? There are 12 skeins of yarn in my Hourglass sweater, and it is not enough to finish the bloody thing! I thought I’d get crafty- I stopped the yoke a few rounds early (ok, 8 rounds early). Even at that I had to use different yarn to do the hem facing as I had already run out. Well guess what. It falls right off my shoulders. I guess the extra inch or so in depth and the 64 fewer stitches around really would make a difference. Let’s just say I was hoping my broad shoulders would come to the rescue.

Pictures tomorrow once the daylight has returned and I have had a sleep and a chance to cool off. Ergh.

I am just itching for spring. I can’t wait for it to come- I can almost feel the warmth in the air coming around the corner, can almost smell the perfume of flowers hanging heavy in the air. Almost, but not quite. We still have snow. But I thought I would take this sunny afternoon opportunity to show off my latest almost finished knit.

That’s the Hourglass Sweater from Last minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I am actually using Noro’s Cash Iroha, the yarn called for in the pattern (I know, just buying it made me silent with awe for a moment), and the yarn truly is gorgeous. I love it! I bought the yarn for this sweater back in September and have been waiting to cast on ever since. And let me tell you, the yarn gods have been on my side… Originally I bought enough to make the 39″ bust size. Just before casting on I realized that I must have been out of my mind at the time, and that really I should be doing the 41″ size (I maintain it’s the broad back that does it!). Off I go to try to get another skein, and they still had some! Phew. I cast on the sweater in the bus on the way to Ontario Winter Games, and worked on it off and on over the weekend. I was *loving* the slight colour variation in the yarn, and the softness and the sheen, so once I got back it trumped all the other knitting I had left behind. Until last night. When I ran out of yarn.

Have you caught your breath again? Good. Let’s continue.

I thought it was my fault. I thought maybe my swatching lied (what? never.) I thought maybe I had missed something about measuring the swatch after blocking… It had to be me. So I looked on the net. Here’s what I found, in the pattern errata at the Purl Soho site:

HOURGLASS SWEATER (pg 112)
A note on yarn requirements:
Many, but not all, knitters have found that they have run short on yarn by one or even two skeins when working this pattern. Please be sure to purchase one or two extra skeins of yarn for this project.

Now you tell me.

Well, off I ran this morning with toddler in tow to see if they had any of the stuff left, and lucky me, I bought the last 2 skeins. Suddenly this sweater is a $160 sweater. All I can say is that it had better fit!

While I was at the shop I got to a little looking around. They have started carrying Art Yarns (Yahoo! Lovely stuff!) and as far as I can tell it’s a good price at $10.80/skein of Supermerino. Too bad they only had some flat colours. The gorgeous colours they had were in the Ultramerino 4, but unfortunately the pattern I wanted the Art Yarns stuff for needs the worsted weight stuff. I’ll just have to keep my eyes peeled for the more vivid colours as they arrive. I did however get my hands on some beautiful Bluefaced Leicester from Fleece Artist…

I’m thinking of modifying the Clapotis pattern to use this stuff, or perhaps Ella…? Not sure. Maybe I’ll design my own! It’s not in the immediate future knitting lineup though, so I have some time to mull it over. Meanwhile, let’s have a better look at those colours, shall we?

Mmmmmm…

Recently I vowed to wrap up my works in progress. Last night’s post gave you an idea of how some of it is going, but didn’t tell the whole story… Here, for your viewing enjoyment and to allow me to virtually pat myself on the back (stop that. You’d do it too!) are a couple of finished objects!

First, the Om yoga mat bag, from Stitch n Bitch Nation:

I used Bernat HandiCrafter Cotton that I had left over from a bunch of projects. I actually love this yarn. I know, I know… but think about it. I can get an enormous ball of it at the grocery store for about $7 CAD, it comes in some great colours, and it makes great baby hats. Really. I make one for all the new babes I know. And even some I don’t… Check out Evan in his as a wee babe:

One of my favourite things about this photo is the way he has his hands folded. I think he was about 3 or 4 weeks old in that picture. That seems like so long ago!

But I digress. Back to the knitting!

Allow me to present- Finished Object #2. The Swing Coat!

I actually had fun with this project, despite the finishing problems. I fully admit that the problems had to do with me, and not the pattern. Man I hate that. I have actually had some interest in it from other parents of small girls who would like one for their kids. If they were knitters I would point them in the direction of the pattern, but since they’re not I would actually consider making another one. But probably not two. That would start to get monotonous… For this one I used Bernat Cotton Tots. What is this, a Bernat Love-in? Well, the yarn is a pretty good substitute for the Blue Sky cotton called for in the pattern, and it’s quite reasonably priced. And I like the colour! So there. It’s also really soft, which is nice in a kid’s pattern, but does make it a little testy about being ripped back and re-knit. I think next time I will pay more attention to the applied i-cord edging, and probably go down a needle size for it. Seems my tension relaxed quite a bit for that part.

Wow. That’s a lot of pale blue.

Here’s what’s waiting in the wings… I am still plugging away on Durrow, but I have found it tough to get a lot done since the bulk of my knitting time over the last few days has come while watching movies or doing something which requires more attention than I can allow while knitting Durrow’s cabled sleeves. I have swatched for Eris (I’ll be doing the cardi) but I need to get myself a new needle to do that one. Since the demise of two of my Denise cables I have lost a lot of my faith in that kit, so it’s off to get a nice 4mm circular needle for me. I started on a hat from the leftovers of the red Manos del Uruguay yarn which I am so completely in love with, but I need a new needle for that one too, since the 4.5mm I use for the vast majority of hats (including the baby ones above) gives me slightly too tight a guage. I’ll rip back what I’ve done (gently) and re-do it on some 5’s. That should do it. ‘Course, I need to get a 5mm circ.

I’ll be away for the weekend starting first thing Thursday morning, so I have had to figure out some good travel knitting. I have decided on the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I was actually able to get the yarn called for in the pattern, Noro’s Cash Iroha, and it is indeed sumptuous yarn. I love it. It’ll be emerald green. Can’t wait (yes, this means all my UFO’s will have to wait till I get back in order to feel the love again. I’m sure they’ll get over it…)!

And lastly, in case you haven’t heard, Elann.com now has Rowan Linen Print! So I splurged. I bought myself enough to make the Anna Sweater from the Linen Print Collection. I have already made the Lana skirt, and I love it. LOVE it! Makes me feel very sexy indeed, and what’s wrong with that? As far as I’m concerned, if I can make a Rowan sweater I like, with the Rowan yarn it calls for, for $65 CAD, then all’s well in the world! Well, maybe that’s going too far, but it is a great thing.

So that’s it for now. I’m off to see if I can get any further with the second iteration of my first Rogue sleeve. No Hourglass cast on till Thursday morning on the bus… See? I’m sticking to my guns.

When knitting a sleeve, read and understand all instructions before proceeding. Also, when said sleeve involves such things as closed-loop cabling, and increasing at the same time, perhaps watching Wallace and Gromit, Curse of the Were-Rabbit is not such a good idea.

I have a very nice piece of Rogue sleeve, but with only half the number of stitch increases as called for in the pattern… when I read the increase row instructions I seem to have glossed over the part that mentioned increasing before and after the cable pannel as well as at the beginning and end of the row. I thought the sleeve looked awfully skinny…

Good thing I enjoy that cable pannel! *sigh*

Look who showed up on my front porch this morning!

I’m thinking some kind of Falcon? Not Peregrine, as the colouring is wrong. Anyone have any ideas? Here are some more photos:

Too bad Evan’s handprints were all over the front window! Oh well, at least I got the shots. What a nice way to get the day going!