Ruby Red a take on the Green Gable

There are some really cool things about Raglan tops...

A while back I realized that I had somehow lost my Tivoli shirt--the first real shirt/sweater that I had ever knit. I really liked the pattern and have been considering knitting it again.

Of course there would be changes, as I learned a bit from knitting the first one and a second one that I made with variations.

I've been loving the pictures of the "Green Gable" and thought I might do a Tivoli with a lace panel on the top like the GG has.

So when I came across a great deal on some Cotton/Merino Cascade Sierra at 40% off I bought 3 skeins and set to work the next day.

After getting to the portion where one would split the sleeve from the body I faltered. I'm not so sure I like the lace panel where it sits and think it might look better if I rotate the whole thing 90 degrees and use the lace as the cap sleeve.

Biding for time before making a decision I drop down every 4th stitch of the flat sections' panels to create a few rows of 3 by 1 ribbing to keep the edge from curling as much.

Then ran yarn lines through half of the stitches so I could "try on" my creation. What do you think the outcome will be?

Knitting Tips/tricks

I went to a Knitting Meet-up group yesterday and found myself as the source of many a knitting tip. Now most of the things I know I've picked up from other knitters both in person and online, but as I came up with one today I thought perhaps I should share a few of these, or at least write them out for future reference.

So today's knitting tip/trick:

If you are like me, and are knitting in stockinette with cotton, or some other unforgiving yarn it is common to have some stitches tighter or looser than others. If it is a single stitch you can use your needle or a crochet hook to destribute the variance over several other stiches in the row. But if it is an entire row of stitches you will not be able to do this.

If you are like me (a lazy perfectionist) you will want it to look good, but without the extra effort of ripping back multiple rows to acheive this. I have my ways :)

A) The row is too loose
-->tighten each stitch to the right height gathering the yarn into an increasingly long loop as you go along. When you have completed the row and are at a good point to stop take the loop and either
1- if it is long enough to weave in the ends cut the loop and tie a loose knot and come back and treat it as if it is any other yarn join
2- if it is too short to weave the ends in separately, using a crochet hook, slip the loop through the back of several purl stitches then use a thread or split one ply off your working yarn to tie it in place to the back of a purl bump.

B) The row is too tight
--Knit to the center of the section that is too tight and drop a single stitch down (tink) to the offending row (it might help to mark the center stitch of the too tight row with a stitch marker or safety pin). Skipping that stitch as one rung of the ladder, and leaving the yarn stranded at the back side of your work, use a needle or crochet hook to knit up the remaining rows/rungs. Pull the fabric taught, and distribute the excess you have created over the stitches to the left and right of the skipped stitch (use needle or hook if necessary). If this does not create enough excess, repeat the procedure with stitches on spaced equally on either side of center, keeping in mind that the excess will distribute both left and right.

I'll try to post pictures of this as well when my camera battery is charged again.

---

Visit my Non-Knitting blog here

Tubey Problem

So The Tubey has a problem...at least on me. I actually DON'T have a huge belly, but it makes me look as if I do. I was so close to finishing that I actually did, and I'll probably frog back to the last row of Burgandy around my chest and then add some lavender for an inch or so and then black the rest of the way down...but that's gonna have to wait until this fall, because I don't have the patience for it right now.

---

Visit my Non-Knitting blog here

Tubey

Tubey
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

I may not have mentioned it, but I've been working on Tubey for a while now. It is a quick knit, but after finishing the shrug portion of the pattern it took me quite a while to get the oomph necessary to cast on for the body.

The body itself I started on Tuesday and I'm almost finished with it already (Saturday)...you've got to love a job that has you work an 11 hour day but only do a little over an hour's worth of work.


If you're going to do this pattern I have a couple of notes:
1--A lot of people have complained about having a loose, puckering back on the shrug portion...I know that my sholders are rather narrow and just "knit to fit" across the back, which was far less than the 19" called for. I actually ended up measuring from armpit to armpit across my back to figure out the length and then knit a few rows in each direction (as per the directions for a couple of inches and then using the provisional cast on and going in the other direction for a few rows) to check fit before proceeding.
2--Do a gauge swatch or use the section across the back as one to determine not only size, but how tight you want the fabric. The pattern called for a size 8 needle. I HATED how loose that made the fabric. I ended up knitting a little on the loose side with a pair of size 4 needles. When I started the body I tried again switching to the size 8s for the beginning (over my "lady lumps") and then graduated down to size 4 again over the next 5"-6".
3--If the top is too low or wide at the top don't tear back, just sew along the upper edge connecting the "sleeve" portion to the front portion for a few more stitches on each side
4--If you alter the size of stripes just try not to make any stripes appear the same width to get the same "look" as this sweater has--and remember that brighter and lighter colors expand (look bigger) and darker colors contract (look smaller) especially when placed next to each other. This is part of the reasoning behind why the pattern has smaller strips of the brightest colors.

Stash enhancement

Stash enhancement
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Between my friends' recent presents & my own acquisitions I have had a lovely reds through purples stash enhancement in the last month

Top & Bottom left: Elann Sonata-Mercerized cotton
Center: Hemp for Knitting--100% Long fiber Hemp (from Rachael & Shannon for my birthday)
Right Top: Baba by Adriafil--Italian Virgin Merino Wool (from Katherine & Alex's trip to Italy)
Right Bottom: Peruvian Baby Silk-80%Baby Alpaca, 20% Silk

Lace Raglan Top Detail

Lace Raglan Top Detail
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Lace Raglan Top back detail

Lace Raglan Top back detail
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

You can see the increasing/decreasing detail in this one, and possibly the short rows if you look real close

Lace Raglan Top

Lace Raglan Top
Originally uploaded by iamsalad.

Finished front

Picture updates

---

Visit my Non-Knitting blog here

So far behind

I've been knitting a lot, but hardly posting any of it, so I thought it was about time I shared a few pictures of what I've been working on. The current obsession is a raglan shirt from Elann.com's free patterns:


I've been wanting to do this one for a while, and once started, I've become so obsessed I've cranked out half of it in under a week.

I usually don't do patterns as written, or in the yarn it calls for, so although I've added paired decreases for waist shaping and am going to do my own lace patterning at the bottom, this project will probably look more like the original than most of my work.

The color is way off on these pictures, as it is much more an orangy/peach color. So this is how far I am:

---

Visit my Non-Knitting blog here