Aiden winners
The three lucky winners of the Aiden pattern are Karen Hutchinson, Carol M, and Carol Ann Firlik.
I can’t wait to see photos of their versions!
Sweaters
Aiden for Free!
I’m delighted to announce that my new pattern, Aiden, has been uploaded on Ravelry.
Designed exclusively for River City Yarns in Edmonton, Alberta Canada, this unisex zippered Henley features their worsted-weight Epic yarn (100% virgin wool; 200 yards/100 grams).
The lower body is worked in stockinette stitch in rounds to the armholes, at which point the front and back are divided and worked separately to the shoulders in a woven slip-stitch pattern that’s not too fancy for a guy but offers enough interest for the knitter. The shoulders are joined (the only seams in the sweater!), then stitches are picked up around the armholes for the sleeves, and the sleeve caps are worked in worked back and forth in short-rows in the same stitch pattern as the upper body. Then the stitches are joined and the sleeves are worked in stockinette stitch in rounds to the bind off at the cuffs.
Stitches are picked up around the neck opening for the stand-up collar, which is also worked in the the woven slip-stitch pattern. For added warmth (and to hide the zipper tape), the collar is lined with a simple knit-three-purl-one ribbed pattern that matches the ribbing on the lower body and sleeve cuffs. For a tidy finish, three-stitch extensions of the lining are worked to hide the rest of the zipper tape on the wrong sides of the fronts.
To celebrate this new design, I’m holding a raffle. Respond to this post by telling me who you’d knit this sweater for. I’ll use a random-number generator to choose three (3!) names and announce the lucky winners Thursday, August 11.
Salida Fiber Arts Festival
Last month I taught at what I believe was the fourth annual Salida Fiber Arts Festival in Salida, Colorado. I taught two three-hour classes (Socks At Any Gauge and Introduction to Sweater Design) one day, then Sweater Basics and Finishing for the next two days. The three-hour classes are mostly lectures, but students knitted sweaters (and sewed them together) in the two-day class.
I can’t remember how many booths of yarn and knitting, weaving, and spinning goodness there were, but I do remember that there weren’t a lot of places to sit. A bar across the street made the most of the situation.
I stayed with my friend Jane (on the left), who I met when teaching at SOAR (SpinOff Autumn Retreat) several years ago. Like me, she has yet to knit a sweater out of the yarn we spun in class. The festival was sponsored in part by Serendipity Yarns, a fantastic little yarn shop in nearby Buena Vista, Colorado, owned by Sheryl (on the right).
What you see on the table are the bloody Mary’s we enjoyed at the end of the day.
There’s a little bit of everything in these drinks–I think all the major food groups are represented. The one I ordered is called “dinner.”
Perfect!
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Bone Art
By now most of you are probably tired of hearing about my broken arm, and I admit that I’m getting a little weary of it myself. But bear with me, this does relate to knitting.
As you may remember, I sent images of the x-rays to my sister’s boyfriend Keith Auerbach, who is an amazing photographer in his spare time, and asked him to make something beautiful out of the images.
Keith made a number of images through photo manipulation that he calls “woozling.” When I saw him a few weeks ago (while visiting my sister to help her de-clutter), he printed out large frame-able images of my favorites. They now reside on the wall that I walk past scores of times a day as I go in and out of my home office.
In return, I gave Keith the Cambridge Jacket that I first knitted for the Summer 2006 issue of Interweave Knits and that was included in The Best of Interweave Knits. The jacket happens to fit him perfectly.
So, the question is, who got the better deal?
Goat Herder “in Situ”
Last weekend my husband and I visited our oldest son, who lives in southern Oregon. It was the first time we saw him on his own turf, where he and two friends raise goats and chickens and take action against social injustice.
Here he is with some of his goats (we call them our grandkids). You might recognize the sweater he’s wearing — it’s the original Goat Herder Pullover. He’s also wearing a hat I knitted out of handspun yarn and, though you can’t see it, he’s wearing socks that I knitted him too!
It’s gratifying to know that he likes what I knit!
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Seaming Away
When it comes to seaming a sweater, I use the invisible seaming techniques outlined by Vicki Square in The Knitter’s Companion. I begin with the shoulder seams, then insert the sleeve caps into the armholes.
A set-in sleeve requires the pieces to be eased for a proper fit. I start by pinning the center of the sleeve cat to the shoulder seam, then pin the matching decreases at the armhole edges, then ease the rest in between. For pins I use old-fashioned roller pins designed to keep brush rollers (think hair) in place. You can still get these pins from Vermont Country Store. The pins are long, flexible, and blunt, all of which are idea when it comes to pinning knitwear.
I start the sleeve cap seam at the shoulder seam, working down the two sides separately.
I use the cast-on tails to sew the side seams from the lower edge to the armholes and to sew the sleeve seams from the cuffs to the armholes.
And then, I steam the seams and it’s all done!
Second Sleeve Down
There’s something very satisfying in knitting garter stitch. It’s so easy but the texture is so scrumptious. I’m almost sorry to have finished the second sleeve to my Garter Lace Jacket remake.
I blocked the two sleeves at the same time, using the stripes on a beach towel to ensure they’re the same size. You can barely see the blocking wires along the selvedges, but they help immeasurably in getting the pieces to block flat for easy seaming. I simply ran the wires through the garter bumps on the edge stitches.
Now that all the pieces are blocked, all that’s left is seaming. Notice how nice and flat the pieces lie–that’s critical when it comes time to sew the seams.
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First Sleeve Down
While watching a few episodes of Doc Martin series 5, I finished the first sleeve of my Garter Lace Jacket. For a garter-stitch gauge of 6 stitches/inch, the pieces of this sweater have worked up surprisingly quickly.
The marker denotes the last row before I started the armhole bind-offs. I’ll keep it in place until I’ve knitted the second sleeve the same number of rows. That way I’ll be certain that they’re the same length.
Walking a Sleeve
After casting on and knitting the first row, which usually takes a little more attention than other rows, I’ve only knitted on the sleeve of my Garter Jacket while walking on the treadmill.
My treadmill has a digital clock that allows two digits for the minutes and two digits for the seconds. As I was walking along I got to wondering what would happen when the two digits for the minutes had to cross over to three–that is, going from 99 mintues, 59 seconds, to 100 minutes, 00 seconds. I couldn’t help myself — I walked until the fateful moment happened.
This treadmill must suffer from Y2K limitations–it completely shut down when the clock turned to 100 mintues.
The marker denotes my last increase row. I’m increasing every 8th garter ridge, which makes it very easy to keep track of, even when I’m walking.