Big Cables, Little Cables

I'm on a bit of a cable kick lately. The big cables? a pillow cover for my living room. This has been dragging on forever. Well, forever since last January. Lately, I have picked it up again, and am determined to get it finished before... well.... before Christmas at the latest! In my defense, the pillow is an 18" square, so it's really not that much smaller than knitting a sweater! I'm making it up as I go along, but basically it will be two squares sewn together with a flap and some buttons.

The little cables? That's the start of my Christmas gift knitting, 2008 edition. The pattern is Merike's Gloves, from Folk Knitting in Estonia. This is my first time knitting a Nancy Bush pattern, and I really appreciate her attention to detail. (Though I don't think I'm going to become a fan of this style of thumb anytime soon. I guess it would be an afterthought thumb... I should look that up.) I'm using up some leftover Elann Devon, which although it's supposed to be sport weight, gives me a gague smaller than I usually get with fingering weight. I went up a needle size, and am still slightly under the recommended gague. I read on Ravelry that the fingers come out a little large with this pattern, so with the smaller gague and leaving out a stitch or two from each finger, I have a glove that fits me really nicely. Now, I just have to figure out who on my gift list has hands similar in dimension to mine! (I guess I should have thought about that before I started knitting!) Anyway, the pattern is quite fun to knit, and has really kept my interest. Let's hope that it holds through the second glove.

I should also show you my finished Helena.


My only modification on this pattern was to add three buttonholes instead of the i-cord ties. It was fun and very quick to knit up. I highly recomend the pattern

In other news, it has been a great year in St. John's for music lovers. A couple of weeks ago one of my favourite folk singers, David Francy, was in town, and we treated my brother to the show for his birthday. It was fantastic. Later that week, we joined my family to see the legenday local music/comedy group, Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers, at the Arts and Culture Centre. And while I missed my chance to see Leonard Cohen, Feist, Bob Dillon, and Lenny Kravitz, who have all been here recently, last night I got to spend an amazing night at Mile One being entertained by Elton John. He brought no band or backup singers; it was just him and his piano. And yet the sounds was amazing, and he held everyone's attention though a show that last almost three hours with no break. Just amazing.

I'm incredibly appreciative that artists who routinely play to massive audiences for far more money, take the time to come to St. John's and play at our smaller venues, our even our biggest stadium, which only holds 8000 people. I think a lot of them come because they personally want to visit Newfoundland - it's certainly a beautiful place here, at least when it's not foggy, and the audiences and the people are great. I was thinking last night, as I left my highly livable downtown neighbourhood, and walked fifteen minutes to the stadium to see Elton John, how much I love St. John's. It sure is good to be home.

One fine-gauge sweater deserves another

Another couple of weeks have come and gone with scarcely a peep from me. I've been caught up lately in trying to spend some time outdoors, especially now that daylight savings has kicked in and there's still some daylight to look forward to when I get home from work. There has also been a little celebrating of St. Patrick's Day (we take our Paddy's Day very seriously here), my 30th birthday and my MIL's birthday (on the same day), and Easter, all within the one week. And then there's the spare bedroom that we're painting, a project that somehow managed to drag on for over a week. Finally finished this morning, thankfully!

So I certainly have not been bored.

Needless to say, there has still been knitting. Take for example my finished Jitterbug gloves:

Women's gloves in Colinette Jitterbug, colourway 77 "dusk", own design. Worked on 2.25 mm (cuffs) and 2.5 mm dpns.

These still haven't been blocked, but I've been wearing them for a couple of weeks now. This was one of those cases where I'm glad that I chose what the yarn wanted to be.

I have also finished the back and the first sleeve of Gatsby Girl. As the sleeves are entirely K1P1 ribbing, this was no small feat! At this point, I am convinced that the amount of stretch in the pieces should result in a sweater that I can wear. By that, I mean that I will physically be able to get it on. I am still not convinced that it will not look entirely silly on me, but I am wiling to continue the experiment in "negative ease" for the sake of a good learning experience if nothing else.

In the meantime, the new spring editions of both Knitty and Interweave Knits appeared and distracted me into all sorts of daydreaming. The printed silk cardigan and the flutter-sleeve cardi from IK will definitely be short-listed. Knitty, for the first time in ages, contained several patterns that I want to knit for myself, but Marjorie caught my attention right off the top. So much so, that I have already started in on it.


Because just what I need to break up the fine-gauge cable work of Gatsby Girl is an even more cabled fine-gauge sweater! Why do I do this to myself?

Rather than the recommended alpaca, I decided to use stash yarn. It's Silke-Tweed by Garn Studio, another bargain find from Wool-Tyme in Ottawa. It's a silk-wool blend very similar to Elsebeth Lavold's silky tweed, with that wonderful crunchy feeling of raw silk. I think it may be discontinued, which is sad, because at 200 m per skein, the the mileage is excellent. I started thinking that I may have to chop the sleeves shorter to get a sweater out of the 7 skeins that I have, but I'm now thinking that I might have enough. On 2.75 mm needles, it's not exactly flying by, but for some reason I can't put this sweater down. I wake up in the morning wanting to knit on it. I've been working on it in the car. My wrist and elbow have been starting to act up, but it still holds its appeal.

I have also been scheming up some future projects and put in another Knit Picks order. I've got supplies ont he way to knit the Ivy League Vest, inspired by Glenna's lovely example, plus another sweater's worth of wool, possibly for Argyle. Luckily, or unfortunately depending on your taste, "sweater weather" never really ends in Newfoundland. It just happens later in the day during the summer. So I'm perfectly happy going on knitting with wool when everyone else is starting to make the switch to cotton tank tops and the like.

Thanks for dropping by!

Jitterbugging

A couple of friends have been waiting to hear the story of a particular skein of yarn. Last summer, when I was still living in Ottawa. Leanne and Nancy introduced me to Wool 'N Things, a very posh little yarn boutique in the far east end of the city. At the time, my yarn budget as a grad student was pretty tight, so it was a rather dangerous excursion and my wallet did take quite a dent that day.

Aside from a few wonderful bits of silk (which I still haven't gotten up the courage or inspiration to touch), we each bought a different colourway of Colinette Jitterbug. I believe that they have both already made socks out of theirs. That was my plan too - a plain pair of ribbed socks to show off the gorgeous colour. Knowing that people tend to have yardage issues with this yarn, I got out my kitchen scale, and dutifully wound the skein into two equal balls. I even swatched, which I rarely bother with for socks. Even though the yarn is plump, I liked my swatch on 2.25 mm needles best, and decided to knit a pair of nice, dense, warm socks.

I got about this far (yes, that's a heel flap on a rather short sock):


When it became quite evident that, A) I was not going to have enough yarn left for a foot, and B) I wasn't really fond of the way the beautiful water-coloury variegation was pooling in diagonal stripes.

Hmm, what to do....

Rip it out and knit gloves!


Somehow, I have ended up with several pairs of mittens in my collection lately, but not a single pair of gloves to my name - a situation soon to be rectified. I'm completely winging it on 2.5 mm needles (2.25 mm for the ribbed cuff), and it looks like I'll even have a little bit of yarn left over. Phew.

The yarn is so pretty that I'm going to miss it when I'm done knitting!

Cable glove pattern

I realized that I'm not going to get around to knitting another pair of men's gloves any time in the near future. Too many other projects are waiting patiently for their turn. Therefore, I have decided to post my pattern and hope that it is relatively free of mistakes. I would love to see photos from anybody who decides to knit them, and please let me know if you do find any mistakes - this is my first time writing out a pattern in full. In the meantime I'll try to figure out how to post it as a pdf. I will continue to update the pattern here if there are any corrections.

Men's Cable Gloves
(c) Kelly

Size
Men’s medium

Finished Measurements
Width: 4 inches across palm.
Length: 10.5 inches at longest point.

Materials
Two skeins of Briggs and Little Heritage 2-ply (100% wool, 4 oz skein = 215 yards), or any worsted weight wool.
Set of 4 3.25 mm (US #3) and
set of 4 3.75 mm (US #5) double-pointed needles, or size needed to achieve gauge

Gauge
5.5 st and 8 rows = 1 inch in stockinette stitch on larger needles

Pattern

Cable instructions:
C4F = place next two stitches on a cable needle, and leave at front of work. K2 from left hand needle, then K2 from cable needle.

Right Glove
With smaller needles, cast on 44 stitches and join in the round being careful not to twist.
Work K1, P1 ribbing for 3 inches. Switch to larger needles.

Thumb Gusset
Row 1: (set-up row): K8, P2, inc 1 st (knitwise) in each of next 2 sts, P2, knit to end of round.
Row 2: (begin gusset increasing): K8, P2, K4, P2, K8, inc 1 st in each of next 2 sts, knit to end of round.
Row 3: K8, P2, K4, P2, knit to end of round.
Row 4: K8, P2, C4F, P2, K8, inc 1 st in next st, K2, inc 1 st in next st, K to end of round.
Row 5: as row 3.
Row 6: K8, P2, K4, P2, K8, inc 1 st in next st, K4, inc 1 st in next st, K to end of round.
Row 7: as row 3.
Row 8: K8, P2, K4, P2, K8, inc 1 st in next st, K6, inc 1 st in next st, K to end of round.
Row 9: as row 3.
Row 10: K8, P2, C4F, P2, K8, inc 1 st in next st, K8, inc 1 st in next st, K to end of round.
Row 11: as row 3.
Row 12: K8, P2, K4, P2, K8, inc 1 st in next st, K10, inc 1 st in next st, K to end of round.
Row 13 – 15: as row 3.
Row 16: K8, P2, C4F, P2, K8, inc 1 st in next st, K12, inc 1 st in next st, K to end of round.
Row 17 – 18: as row 3.
Row 19: K8, P2, K4, P2, K8, place next 16 st. on waste yarn, CO 2 st, K to end of row. 46 sts.
Row 20 – 21: as row 3.
Row 22: K8, P2, C4F, P2, K to end of round.
Row 23-27: as row 3.
Row 28: K8, P2, C4F, P2, K to end of round.
Row 29 – 32: as row 3.

Index Finger
Place first 16 sts of row on waste yarn (front). K 13, CO 2. Place remaining 17 sts on waste yarn (back). Join these 15 st in the round and work even in stockinette for 3" (8 cm) or until desired length is reached.
Next round: K2tog to last st. K1.
Next round: K2tog around.
Break yarn, thread though remaining sts, and pull tight.

Middle Finger
Pick up 3 sts at base of index finger, K5 sts from waste yarn in back, CO2, and K6 sts from waste yarn in front. Join these 16 sts in the round and work even in stockinette for 3.5" (9 cm) or until desired length is reached.
Next round: K2tog around.
Next round: K2tog around.
Break yarn, thread though remaining sts, and pull tight.

Ring Finger
Pick up 2 sts at base of middle finger, K5 sts from waste yarn in back, CO2, and K6 sts from waste yarn in front. Join these 15 sts in the round and work even in stockinette for 3" (8 cm) or until desired length is reached.
Next round: K2tog to last st. K1.
Next round: K2tog around.
Break yarn, thread though remaining sts, and pull tight.

Pinky Finger
Pick 3 st at base of ring finger, and K 11 remaining sts from waste yarn.
Join these 14 sts in the round and work even in stockinette for 2.75" (7 cm) or until desired length is reached.
Next round: K2tog around.
Next round: K2tog to last st. K1.
Break yarn, thread though remaining sts, and pull tight.

Thumb
Place 16 stitches from waste yarn back on needles.
Join yarn and K 16, then pick up and knit 4 st in the gap.
Next round: K 16, K2tog twice. 18 sts.
Continue to knit in the round for 2.75" (7 cm) until thumb is desired length.
Next round: K2tog around.
Next round: K2tog to last st, K1.
Break yarn, thread though remaining sts, and pull tight.

Left Glove
With smaller needles, cast on 44 stitches and join in the round being careful not to twist.
Work K1, P1 ribbing for 3 inches. Switch to larger needles.

Thumb Gusset
Row 1: (set-up row): K36, P2, inc 1 st (knitwise) in each of next 2 sts, P2, knit to end of round.
Row 2: (begin gusset increasing): K22, inc 1 st in each of next 2 sts, K8, P2, K4, P2, knit to end of round.
Row 3: K all knit stitches and P all purl stitches as they appear.
Row 4: K21, inc 1 st in next st, K2, inc 1 st in next st, K8, P2, C4F, P2, K to end of round.
Row 5: as row 3.
Row 6: K21, inc 1 st in next st, K4, inc 1 st in next st, K8, P2, K4, P2, K to end of round.
Row 7: as row 3.
Row 8: K21, inc 1 st in next st, K6, inc 1 st in next st, K8, P2, K4, P2, K to end of round.
Row 9: as row 3.
Row 10: K21, inc 1 st in next st, K8, inc 1 st in next st, K8, P2, C4F, P2, K to end of round.
Row 11: as row 3.
Row 12: K21, inc 1 st in next st, K10, inc 1 st in next st, K8, P2, K4, P2, K to end of round.
Row 13 – 15: as row 3.
Row 16: K21, inc 1 st in next st, K12, inc 1 st in next st, K8, P2, C4F, P2, K to end of round.
Row 17 – 18: as row 3.
Row 19: K21, place next 16 st. on waste yarn, CO 2 st, K8, P2, K4, P2, K to end of row. 46 sts.
Row 20 – 21: as row 3.
Row 22: K23, P2, C4F, P2, K to end of round.
Row 23-27: as row 3.
Row 28: K23, P2, C4F, P2, K to end of round.
Row 29 – 32: as row 3.

Index Finger
Place first 17 sts of row on waste yarn back). K 13, CO 2. Place remaining 16 sts on waste yarn (front). Join these 15 st in the round and work even in stockinette until desired length is reached.

Follow instructions as given for right glove to complete fingers and thumb.

Finishing
Weave in all ends on inside of gloves.

Please note: this pattern is provided for your personal use. The pattern may not be sold, and items made from this pattern may not be sold for profit. Please do not copy it or post it on any website. Feel free to post a link to it here.

Catching up

I think I will have enough blog fodder for quite some time to come. There was lots of knitting over the holidays. Sadly, there were some gifts that I forgot to photograph. Perhaps I can get their new owners to send me photos - we'll see. This is the second pair of gloves based on my own cable pattern, gifted to my father-in-law:

Cable gloves in Briggs and Little Tuffy, original pattern

I have written up the pattern for these, and plan to post it soon. I have to do one more pair of these, so I will use that opportunity to test-knit it. I'm a little nervous about putting it out there full of mistakes (it's the first time I've written a pattern that I intend for other people to be able to follow.) Soon. I promise.
These are the Crooked Cable socks that I was working furiously on before I left for home. I finished them a couple of days before Christmas.

Crooked Cable Socks, pattern by Sockbug, in Lang Jawoll. Knit on 2 circulars, size 2.5 mm.

I really like this pattern and will definitely knit it again - maybe for myself. I think that I would add another half or full pattern repeat to the leg to make them longer. I had lots of yardage to spare. As for the yarn, I like the reinforcing spool that comes with it, but I was unimpressed that A) the colour bled a bit, even just soaking them in cold water for blocking, so care will have to be taken to not dye all the laundry pink, and B) they were looking kind of fuzzy and old after only a couple of washes and wearings. This is a fairly expensive sock yarn by my standards. I have to say that I am more impressed with the sturdiness and ease of care with less expensive Regia sock yarns. I won't be buying this one again.

And finally, I don't think I posted these before, but I knit them back in October. This toque and wristies I made for my younger brother. He's a bass player and sound technician, so I thought they would come in handy for those chilly outdoor gigs where he needs full use of his fingers. I think he really likes them.

Touque: Cable Knit Hat, pattern by Headhuggers, altered to add the ribbed brim.
Wristies: pattern by Joelle Hoverson available free on the Canadian Living website
Yarn: elann.com Peruvian Sierra Aran, colour Chestnut.

I think that's it for the gift shots that I have. But I've got lots of other stuff in reserve. It's time that I'm short on! More to come.