Ramblings of a Mad Knitter

Saturday, January 4, 2014

12 in 12 Challenge: Failed

In retrospect, trying to knit twelve sweaters in twelve months before having actually completed anything larger than a sweater vest was probably not a good idea.

For January I attempted Vivian, and that was when I learned the importance of swatching. Also, of knitting something small with the intended yarn before knitting an entire sweater made of prickles and itchiness. I adore knitpicks, but I feel like Cadena may not be sweater material for me. Overall, I feel like it's too big and unwearable as a sweater. I may line it with a soft fabric and use it as a jacket, though. We'll see.

January - Vivian

In February I knitted up Talia in Knitpicks City Tweed DK. This yarn was a joy to knit with, and the pattern was excellent. I finished this vest in less than two weeks and have worn it over button-down shirts, t-shirts, and simple long-sleeved tees. Of course, it has proper buttons.

February - Talia

In March I started the Blackberry Cabled Cardigan in Knitpicks Swish DK. The pattern is excellent, the eggplant color is perfect, and I lost steam at the start of the second sleeve and haven't picked it up since April. In my defense, I did spend all of May, June, and most of July making this sweet baby blanket for my new nephew.

I'm gonna go with I forgot April and May existed and skip to June...

In June I took on the Balthazar Vest. A few people had warned me that the pattern wasn't very good and that I'd need to check out the errata and read project notes from other Ravelers. I didn't find the pattern to be too confusing, but by then I had already knit a few vests and one and a half sweaters, so maybe that experience helped.

June - Balthazar Vest

July was a very productive month, almost making up for forgetting two of the three previous months. First, I made the Something Lacy Shrug in Cascade 220 Superwash. I love this, but I haven't worn it at all. It gets SO hot in the summers, but it's always freezing inside, so this is either way too much or not nearly enough. Delaware forgot to have spring or fall in 2013, jumping right from winter to summer and then back to winter again. I also made the Sinnesfrid vest in Plymoth Yarn's Galway worsted, which was a gift from my dear friend Anne. I splurged on some bone buttons from Vulcan's Rest Fibers to finish it off. I absolutely adore this vest and wear it all the time!

July - Something Lacy Shrug

July - Sinnesfrid

Finally, in December I made the Baby Sophisticate sweater for my adorable six-month-old nephew. This was a super quick knit and looks great.

December - Baby Sophisticate

So that was it for 2013. I'm a bit disappointed in myself, but I've learned a very important lesson about biting off more than I can chew. Maybe this year I'll take on socks. After all, I do have that awesome subscription to Tipsy Sheep Yarn!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Balthazar Vest

Despite some rather ominous blog posts, project notes, and pattern comments on Ravelry, I decided to give Wen Len Chia's Balthazar vest a shot.

A friend of mine and fellow knitter with better taste than I recently gave me over 1,000 yards of chunky yarn in a delightful two-tone twisty green color. Despite my project backlog and overflowing stash, I HAD to make something with this gorgeous yarn. I had the yarn for all of a day before I broke out Twinkle's Big City Knits, held two strands together, and casted on.

Thanks to the gigantic needles and super chunky yarn, I was able to get this project off my needles in just two days!

I highly recommend giving this pattern a try, but maybe not for the inexperienced knitter. I made at least a dozen spontaneous modifications that I unfortunately didn't write down. I also decided to cast on for a small because the extra small seemed like it would be better suited to a preteen than to a tiny adult.

Pictures will be uploaded in the near future!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

ERMAGHERD

That, my fellow knitters, is the sound a graduate student makes when she realizes that she has at last finished her final assignment and will actually have time to knit things!

As an early celebration of freedom, I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool last weekend. It was a wonderful time and no, I don't have any pictures. I went with the intention of only buying yarn for five specific projects and not a single skein more. My friend chuckled at my naivite and mercifully did not say "I toldja so," when I was frantically trying to justify skein upon skein of soft and snuggly that collected in my bag.

I am proud of myself, though, because I only filled one little bag with yarn and she filled four huge bags and had to make three trips back to the car.

Hopefully now that I'll have this magical thing called "free time" I'll be able to update my blog more regularly and maybe even get through my March sweater.

Don't even talk to me about sweaters.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Better Late than Never!

My January sweater is finally nearly done!!! I still need to add the button band and the collar, but I'm happy enough with it to move on to February.

Since I'm starting my February sweater so late, I'm switching up my order a little bit and casting on the Talia Sweater Vest

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

There's Always Tomorrow...

As it's now January 15 and I've only just cast on the 180 stitches needed for my very first sweater, I've come to a realization: knitting a sweater is remarkably like going to the gym or going for a run.

Hear me out.

I'm going to go for a run. Really. There is a beautiful reservoir that overlooks my apartment complex that conveniently has a wide, paved walkway that is 1.25 miles long with distance markers spray painted directly onto the path every quarter mile. It takes me about three minutes to walk from my door up the well worn doggy path up to the path. It's even unseasonably warm and the sun is shining, the perfect day to start running. I have my spiffy running shoes and I've even invested in a very serious sports bra and seamless athletic shirt (to prevent chaffing, you know).

But I've got a headache, so I'll just go tomorrow.

Yesterday, I was tired.

Sunday, I had papers to grade and it was my sweetheart's birthday.

Saturday I was so exhausted from a long week of student teaching that I just really needed to focus on Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch's cheekbones.

Coincidentally, these are also some of the reasons why I hadn't started my first sweater for the 12 in 12 until today. At first I had a legitimate excuse: The yarn didn't arrive until the 8th. Since then? Yeah, just being a bum.

Today was the day, however, that I rolled up a skein and cast on 180 whole stitches! And, if I work at least 30 rows a day from now on, it should be finished by the end of the month!

1 skein, 19 rows, and 12 hours later...

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Sweater Shavers

Due to a combination of poor planning and switching up my sweater order last minute, the yarn I ordered for my first sweater has not yet arrived and thus I can't start. Things I have learned from this: don't order yarn 3 days before it's time to start the project; If you have yarn for something you should probably do that first.

SO needless to say I've been pacing around my apartment frantically looking for things to do to distract me from the fact that it's January 1st and I am not working on my first sweater for the 12 in 12. A good way to start out the new year? I think not.

And then it happened - I stumbled upon a hat that I had knit for my boyfriend just over a year ago. This was the second hat that I'd knit for him and is by far his favorite (probably because it actually fit him, unlike the first hat). I feel in love with the pattern, Shilling by Chris Terramane, and ever since have used it as my go-to man-hat pattern.

Unfortunately, after a fall and two winter's worth of wear, this hat didn't exactly look like new. It was fuzzy with the kind of love that blurs stitches just as well as it blurs minor flaws in your sweetheart. Unlike minor flaws, however, I really much prefer my stitches to be well defined. The problem: fuzzy stitches. The solution: my sweater shaver.

About a month ago I ordered a sweater shaver along with a bunch of books on Amazon, following the logic that I'm a broke graduate student who can't run off and buy a ton of sparkly new sweaters every fall/winter and that if I'm already spending x amount on books, another $8 certainly isn't going to feel like that much more. So, it arrived and I dutifully removed the little pills from my favorite teaching sweaters and I threw it in a drawer so it wouldn't be in my way until next fall.

At any rate, I took this little device to my sweetheart's hat and, like magic, it looked like it did the day after I bound off the stitches and weaved in the ends.

Before (lighting isn't so great for color, but you can see the fuzzies)

After (OMG look at all of those stitches!!!!!)

The hat is red, despite what the first picture might like you to believe. The sweater shaver didn't magically change the color, I'm just not very good at pictures.

In short, for those looking to keep their lovingly knit items looking new, I really suggest investing in a sweater shaver. I use a little handheld Remington, and I really can't speak for any other models or the long-term effects of sweater shavers, but I thought I'd share my positive experience.

Now, back to pacing...

Monday, December 31, 2012

Welcome to the 12

So, this is a blog! You should probably know that this is my first blog, so it might be a little rocky until I figure things out. Anyway, on to some actual content!

The real purpose for this blog is to track my progress as I work through the 12 in 12 challenge in which I, along with an awesome friend, will knit 12 sweaters in 12 months.

Holy carp, what am I doing.

Without further introduction, here are the sweaters that I plan to knit along with their Ravelry links should anyone wish to follow along!

January