Done: ASJ Epic

The last end was actually woven in on Dec. 2, but as I've been caring for sick puppies I was a little too distracted to blog.

The pups are feeling better, by the way. They seemed better Wednesday during the day, but relapsed that evening after bedtime.

I went to the vet Thursday and they said it sounded like colitis, which is an inflimation of their intestines which points to something they ate.

Now they have medicine they have to take three times a day for a week. At least it sounds like something passing (no pun intended) that isn't life threatening or chronic.

Anyway, the sweater.

Sleeves, again.
I really can't harp on how narrow the sleeves are following the original pattern. Mine would have have been about 12 inches around, which would have been negative ease for me.

Even with my slick little flap they are a little snug, probably since I'm wearing them over shirts, but they seem to be streatching out a little.

When I made my little shoulder flaps I didn't think about the neckline at all. After you knit the body you go back and knit an edging that includes the front opening so extra depth it added. It worked out ok because as you knit this border you increase at the beginning of each row and that little flare fit in nicely along the edge of my shoulder flap.

Still, what I think I should have done was pick up along the entire cast on edge, instead of targeting the sleeve section.

By knitting two seperate flaps I ended up making the back neckline deeper than it should have been.

Of course now that I know how it works out if I ever make it again I'll follow the alternative directions for deeper arms.

Collared
My alterations made the neckline very open. That made it look unfinished, sloppy, and oversized when I first tried it on.

I knew some finished was required and a simple collar seemed the best bet.

The collar in the pattern seemed more about the baby size. I got out my big Vogue Knitting book and discovered that collar was basically the same.

My first attempt didn't work out because I didn't pick up stitches along the front evenly. One side went all the way down to the outside edge of the neck opening and the other side fell a few stitches short. It made the entire sweater look crooked. sigh.

I pulled it out but despite being careful still fell a stitch short on my pick up. This time I figured it was close enough.

I just picked up each stitch around and worked in garter stitch. I worked Sl1, k2, kfb, k to end on each row. Additionally on every, oh, fourth row I worked a KFB one stitch in from the corners on the back section to give the back a little more fullness for the fold over. I worked the collar for about 18 rows.

Buttons? Pockets?
Now all I need are buttons. And they are going to have to be big, honking buttons. I followed the button hole directions in the pattern, which are over four stitches and at 3.5 sts/inch they are some big button holes.

My need for buttons makes me wish I was still at Westport Yarns. Not only did we have a good selection of buttons, but I would have had a ton of advice on which one to select.

Turns out the women in the library knitting group are as much of a bad influence as any knitters you would meet. They suggested I should make buttons out of fimo. They were like, "You could get blue and green like in your coat" and they made it sound all easy.

Of course, the big problem is now I have that idea in my head....

I think I'll also probably end up adding pockets. But I want to wait until I have buttons so I know how it will actually close.

Project Stats
Pattern: Adult Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann. I have the ABC booklet with all the sizes and expanded directions.
Needles: US 10
Size: I aimed for a 35" chest.
Yarn total potential yardage: 1131

  Yarn Name                  Yardage         Amount Used
Noro Kogarashi                  165 yards            used all
Queensland Collection Sandstone 65 yards             used all
Noro Kochoran                   176 yards/100g       41g left
Queensland Collection Mist  2 at 54 yards=108 yards  used all
Ella Rae Country Tweed          82 yards             used all
Araucania Coliumo               95 yards/100g        17g left
Araucania Azapa                 147 yards/100g       17g left
Ester Bitran Tirua              163 yards/100g       34g left
Louisa Harding Millias    2 at 65 yards=130 yards    used all

Remember, if you want to see the specific yarns, I made a little map on a close up picture.

This pattern was a lot of fun. It only took me a month of concentrated knitting. Project monogamy for the win! I'm sure the big gauge helped speed me along.

I do have a desire to make another one, which is saying a lot since I'm not usually a pattern repeater. However, I'm resisting the urge.

I think my next sample yarn sweater will be a top down cardigan. On the other hand, a small project to cleanse my palate might be in order first.

Oh, Puppy Poop

Don't you hate it when life interferes with your knitting?

[Samson!]

I was really hoping to get the shoulders seamed yesterday. However, I was beside myself in a tizzy and ripping bad mood for like all damn day and it just didn't happen.

I was going to do a three needle bind off, but since I wasn't firing on all cylinders I tried to just pick up the stitches onto the needle. That quickly got too tight to continue so I abandoned it.

Then I decided I'd be bad and just whip stitch the damn thing. Hey, a three needle bind off would have left an obvious ridge, how would whip stitching be worse? But things slid out of line and the neck didn't line up with my extra shoulder flap thingy so I had to rip that out.

Finally I went back to the three needle bind off by picking up and knitting stitches onto the needle. I only got one done when it was time for dinner. After dinner I gave up all effort at appearing human and went to bed.

Hopefully today will be a better day all around (although it's starting out ugly).

Note: no knitting content ahead. Just a metric ton of whining and sick dogs.

Poor Sick Puppies
My hysteria and general emotional instability yesterday was brought on by extreme fatigue.

We came home from the in-laws' on Saturday surviving a hairy scary ride through the mountains of Vermont in the snow.

Then we ended up staying up until 1 am watching UP off our DVR. What a cute movie. We just loved Dug to pieces. He reminded us of Baru.

I was awoken at 5 or 6 am by the gentile sounds of a dog throwing up. Then Samson started running around whining, so I threw on my PJs and raced outside with him to discover he had diarrhea. The poor thing, no wonder he was frantic. At least we made it outside in time.

Sunday was spent racing outside with Samson so he could go to the bathroom and being in distress about what we could do for him. He was, happily, still in good spirits, which was a good sign it was just an upset belly and not something more serious. To add to our puzzlement, Baru seemed fine despite the fact they eat the same thing.

Until dinner time, that is, when he pooped all over the bathroom. gag! At the time I thought it was because we never walked him properly. Oh, we took him out to pee, but we were so focused on Samson that we didn't really give poor Baru time to do anything else. In hindsight the bathroom incident was an indication Baru had the same stomach bug.

After we went to bed Sunday, Samson woke me up at 2 am and 5 am because he needed to go out. Seriously, he woofed. Hubby slept through all this, but I was delirious all day Monday because I hadn't had a good night's sleep in ages. I was also stressed out about the pups. I knew the combination was setting me up for a migraine, which just added to the stress.

[Baru!]

I called the vet and they said it sounded like the pups had just eaten something that didn't agree with them and would take 2 or 3 days to work through their systems. sigh.

By 9 pm I gave up and went to bed. Only to be roused by the gentle sound of a dog puking under the bed. Poor Baru was under there looking displeased. I also discovered that someone had throw up under there earlier in the day without us realizing. So I took them out and then crawled under the bed to clean it up.

By then it was 10 pm and I'd really had it up to here. So I took to aspirin and went to bed again. Hubby had been up at school working since dinner. This morning he said he came home, took Samson out, and didn't get to bed until around 1 am himself. Sounds like today is Hubby's day to be delirious.

Tuesday dawned with a migraine, as I had feared. We'd just been giving the pups rice the last few days, but decided this morning to give them a real meal to try to solidify things for them. Well, Samson was all for it. Actually, Samson has been showing signs of hunger all along, which was comforting. But when I called Baru for breakfast I heard him approaching, then he suddenly retreated. I came looking for him only to discover he'd had an accident on the bedroom floor.

sigh.

The problem is that unlike Samson Baru doesn't communicate when he needs to go out. He never learned to ring the bell like Samson does. Starting the morning cleaning up puppy poop isn't very fun, but how can you be mad at the poor things when you know they are sick? And can I add that we live in on old place so the windows are really bitchy hard to open. There I am desperatly scrabbling at the sash and storm window to let in some fresh air and the damn thing won't move. Really, it hasn't been pretty around here.

After cleaning that up I took them out. Not that Baru had to go any more....Samson seems on the mend. Baru was in high spirits. Even after I dragged him into the bath tub to rinse his fluffy butt off. eeewww. And he at his breakfast.

I resorted to a powerful migraine pill and we all laid down again. Now I'm finally feeling better and the pups are crashed out on our bed sleeping. Hopefully, for all our sakes, they'll get through this soon.

ASJ: The Hard Part

Despite my best effort to knit in the ends as I worked I still ended up with about 24 ends to weave in when I was done.

Since I was changing colors every 10 rows I knew I'd have a lot of ends to weave in at the end. Fortunately that realization hit me with the first color change and I immediately too steps to head the ends off at the pass.

Now, I learned how to weave in ends as I knit during a Lucy Neatby class at Knitting Central but I think this blog post shows the technique pretty well. There are a lot of pictures so if you're on dial-up you might get bogged down.

On the row I changed colors I would weave the color I was dropping. I would knit back on the next row normally. Then on the third row from the color change I would weave in the end of the new color. That way I quickly eliminated both ends. ha!

If I was so conscientious how did I end up with 24 ends to contend with? Simple. Things went south when I started running out of yarn. I was changing colors on right (public) side rows, but if I ran out on a wrong (private) side I just rolled with it. I find I can't do the knit-in-ends thing on the wrong side; the yarn is in the wrong place for me.

The Edging
A number of the ends were concentrated at the bottom right (on the body) corner. For some reason I couldn't weave there either.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture but I did end up changing yarn every two rows.

When it is time to work the final edging/border you knit across the last center flap row, then pick up stitches along one side of the flap, knit back down, across the bottom of the flap, and up the other side.

I thought this was going to be a really dreadful process because I don't like picking up stitches, but it turned out to be really easy. When I sat down to do it I reminded myself that it was going to be just like picking up along my beloved garter stitch heel flap, which is really simple. Just go for the strand in between the garter ridges. yippee!

Anyway. Since you go up and down one side before working the other side your stripes could end up uneven. As you know I'm a little neurotic about being matchy-matchy. Therefore I knit up and down the first side, across the flap, up and down the second side, and across the flap, stopping at the bottom corner where the row started. In this manner I got two rows of the color on each side.

Insert happy sigh here.

Pick Up Line
Oh, and the other cranky thing I did with the edging was picking up the left hand side (on the body) purlwise.

The right hand side picked up from the public side, which was just fine. But when I knit back around to the left side I was picking up from the private side of the work. This made an icky ridge on the public side.

Now it might have blended in with the garter stitch fabric, and it might have been covered by the button band, but either way I would know it was there! So I pulled that side out and picked it up again purlwise then went back to working garter. This made one little stockinette row so there is a blip in the fabric, but it's going to be covered by the button band. Also, no one should be close enough to the sweater to see it aside from Hubby and the puppies.

And if someone does see it I think it will be more attractive than the blobby edge from the first time around.

My new concern is that I didn't work a deep enough edging. The pattern says to work the button holes after two ridges then to work 4-5 more ridges. Well, I got so caught up in changing colors every two rows that when I worked the Noro Kogarashi rows (which is the yarn I cast on with) I got so excited I cast off. This was actually only three ridges after the button holes.

Part of me says this is going to be fine since it's basically just the button band. The button holes have been placed and that will dictate how much I have to work with when closing it. Still, I'm not going to cut that last yarn until I can try it on.

Which brings us back to another hard part.

Weaving in the ends went very quickly last night. phew. Now I just have to close the arm seams. I'm really happy there are just two seams since I don't like finishing much. I think I'll go with a three needle bind off. I just have to select the color to use.

At this rate I might have finished project pictures to show you tomorrow!

ASJ Near Final

This is what my Adult Surprise Jacket looks like as I'm knitting. A strange, amorphous blob.

It's also rather big and heavy, which is kind of OK with the chilly weather arriving. When I'm knitting it I don't need a blanket on me.

I'm in the final push now, but although I'm very close to finishing I'm also still very far away.

Now I have to pick up around the perimeter from one orange stitch holder, down the side to the needle, across the bottom and up the side to the other orange stitch holder.

I shudder to think how many stitches that is going to be.

The two flaps sticking up at the top of the picture are not involved. Those are the sleeves.

Not seeing it? Well, maybe this picture will help. This is what it looks like folded up proper.

I'll be picking up stitches from one side of the neck opening, all the way down and around to the other side.

Sleeves!
Since you have no perspective you probably can't tell the arms are 3/4 length at this point.

I left the body and worked on the sleeves for a while in an effort to get in as many colors as I could. This led to me using up the rest of the rest of the turquoise Mist and the dark green Millias. They will not be reappearing in the body. I'm ok with that. Part of the idea of this jacket is to have uneven stripes. (right? right?) And to me it was more important to have the sleeves tie in.

I might make the sleeves longer depending on how much yarn I have left in the end.

They do fit a little better with the addition of the little flap. Not perfect, but I have faith they will stretch.

Flummoxed
The body length is below my butt. The body will get a bit longer because now since I will be picking up around the edge and knitting for a few more rows, which will also close the fronts more.

For all my claims about welcoming uneven stripes I am probably over thinking the edging.

At this point I have the Ella Rae Country Tweed on the needles. I think I'll go ahead and use that for picking up along the edge. For all I know I have such a large territory to cover the Country Tweed will be exhausted on that one row.

If I stay in sequence the next yarn I should use is the blue Araucania Coliumo. On the one hand I like this because it will bring in those bright colors from the top to the bottom. On the other hand, it will also double up on those bright colors at the top.

Part of me is saying I should go back to the Noro Kogarashi that I cast on with. Finish how I started. However, if I make th sleeves longer the Kogarashi is technically the next yarn in line. Of course it might be cool if I could end both the body and the sleeves on the same yarn. Only I don't think I have enough left for that.

Part of me is saying to throw caution to the wind and finish the stripe sequence at the bottom. At this point it would be the blue Coliumo, the bright green Araucania Azapa, and the multi colored Ester Bitran Tirua.

But that is dangerous because the longer I knit the body the longer my final perimiter will be. And boy howdy will I be ticked off if I run out of yarn and have to tear back a bunch of knitting to harvest yarn so I can finish.

I wish there was a way to know how much more I can knit with the yarn I have.

Another part of me, but I'm ignoring it, thinks I should use all the colors in the edging by working just two rows with each of them. For all I know I'll start running out of yarn and have to do that anyway.

It's high drama here. If I'm lucky I'll finish this over the weekend, but I'm not holding my breath.

KFI: Dazzle Drop Stitch Scarf

First off, I think this totally needs to be a two ball scarf, but I didn't want to hold up your holiday knitting so here it is.

This scarf is a little more complicated than the Athena Garter Stitch Scarf because this one has a pattern stitch rather than just being all garter stitch.

For this scarf you need to be able to cast on, knit, work a drop stitch, cast off, and tie fringe.

Since this scarf is worked on a US 8 needle the fabric is a little denser than the Athena Scarf, which makes this scarf shorter. To make a longer scarf, or for lusher fringe, you will need two balls of yarn.

Feel free to experiment with larger needle sizes. I tried the Drop Stitch on the US 13 needles and didn't see enough of a difference between it and the garter fabric to bother, but you might like it.

Dazzle Drop Stitch Scarf

Size: (one ball) 3" by 35" (excluding fringe)

Materials: Dazzle by Knitting Fever (100% Nylon, 82 yards/25 g). One or two balls

Needles: US 8

Gauge is not important for this project.

Note: Begin by cutting 24 strands each 11" long for fringe. Set aside.

Pattern Stitches:
Drop Stitch (two row repeat): Row 1: knit across row wrapping needle twice for each stitch.
(So go into the stitch the normal way to knit, wrap the yarn twice, then complete the stitch as normal.)
Row 2: knit across row dropping the wrap. (So you'll see what looks like a regular stitch right next to what looks like a yarnover. Knit into the stitch and pull it and the YO off the left needle.)

Long Drop Stitch (two row repeat): Row 1: knit across row wrapping needle three times for each stitch.
Row 2: knit across row dropping two wraps.

The Pattern:
CO 15 sts.
*Work 4 rows in garter stitch (knit every stitch on every row).

Work Drop Stitch: Row 1: knit across, wrapping twice for every stitch. Row 2: Knit across, dropping second wrap.

Work 4 rows in garter stitch

Work Drop Stitch

Work 4 rows in garter stitch

Work Long Drop Stitch: Row 1: knit across, wrapping three times for each stitch. Row 2: Knit across, dropping two wraps.

Repeat from * until you run out of yarn.

(So it's regular Drop Stitch twice, followed by Long Drop Stitch once, all separated by 4 rows of garter stitch.)

Cast off.

Using one strand for each fringe attach at 12 points along each end of the scarf.

Enjoy!

KFI: Athena Garter Stitch Scarf Pattern

The fun thing about novelty yarns like Athena (left, red) and Dazzle (right, blue) is you can work a very simple pattern but end up with an eye catching project because the yarn does all the work for you.

You also have a lot of flexibility because the yarn will work nicely with a variety of needle sizes allowing you to make either a dense fabric or an airy one.

To start I wanted a simple scarf pattern that would be suitable for an enthusiastic beginner.

To work the pattern you only need to know how to cast on, work the knit stitch, and cast off. Some people find novelty yarn a little tricky to work with when they first get started because it can be hard to see the individual stiches, so I would suggest you already know how to knit before you plunge in with these yarns.

Athena Garter Stitch Scarf

Size: 3" wide by 50" long, including fringe. (Scarf will stretch and get slightly longer with wear.)

Materials:
Yarn: Athena by Knitting Fever (80% Polyester, 20% Nylon. 82 yds/25 g), 1 ball.
A second ball can be used to make a longer scarf.

Needles: US 13

Gauge is not important for this project.

Note: Begin by cutting 44 strands each 11" long for fringe. Set aside.

The Pattern:
Cast on 15 stitches.

Work in garter stitch (knit every stitch on every row) until almost out of yarn.

Cast off.

Using 2 strands for each fringe, attach at 11 points along each end of the scarf.

If you use only one ball of yarn you might not have to weave in your ends because they will blend in with the fringe. If you use two balls of yarn you'll have to weave in the ends in the center of the scarf where you changed balls (obviously).

I tied my scarf in a loose knot. You could also wear it untied. A longer scarf will give you more wearing options.

Sally forth and prepare to receive compliments.

No Knit Necklace
Another option for using the yarn is to make this simple necklace.

I laid out 10 loops about 25 inches long which gave me 20 strands. Don't cut the loops. Carefully pick them up and give them a few twists to give the bundle stability. Clip them together in the back to close the necklace. You should be able to buy necklace clasps at the craft store.

See? Even non-knitters can enjoy this yarn.