FO (finally): Windmill Bay Stole

Some projects seem to knit themselves. The rows slip by effortlessly, and before you know it, you blink and there's a finished object lying in your lap. This project? This project was not that kind of project. Nothing dramatic happened - there were no huge instances of user error, no problems with the pattern, no big crises - but it just took forever. That might be because I chose to knit a 6+ foot long scarf out of heavy fingering weight alpaca (ha!), but aside from that unfortunate decision, everything else went smoothly. It also went really, really slowly.

Project: Windmill Bay Stole by Sashka Macievich

Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Alpaca in Olive (which is really more of a chartreuse...), 182 yds/50 gr, 7 skeins

Needles: US 5/3.75 mm

Start/finish: 1 February - 14 April 2015 for the knitting, a couple more days for blocking

Comments/mods: This is one of those rare instances in which I actually knit the pattern in the yarn called for, and I'm glad I did. I saw this particular color of Drops Alpaca at the Knitting & Stitching show in Olympia in 2013, and fell in love. When I found this pattern that called for that exact yarn, there was no question as to which color I was going to get, despite my insistence that I don't really "do" green.

I love love love love the finished stole. I also hated hated hated knitting it. This is not the fault of the designer (it's a well written, clear pattern) or the yarn (which is super soft, a fabulous color and very affordable), but an issue that I think is inherent in knitting long rectangular things that go on forever and don't get any longer no matter how many rows you manage in a three hour session one evening in front of the TV.

The pattern has three sections, each of which is worked for about 24 inches, so that's an awful lot of ribbing/lace/cabled ribbing to slog through. It is perfect for evening TV knitting thought (particularly the ribbed sections), and the results are totally worth it! 

This project was also a really good one for demonstrating the importance of blocking. To whit: before blocking, I had a large, scarf-shaped blob,

Blob o' green alpaca

with wonky stitches, and a very uneven, reverse-hourglass shape (the lace middle section was a lot wider then the ribbing on either end).

Oh ugh. What kind of even tension is that I ask you?

But after a Soak soak, and a couple of hours (well it felt like hours) with my butt in the air and my nose on the carpet, this sucker was blocked and drying.

Even when still wet, just pinning it out did wonders for all those wonky stitches! I blocked the middle section first - not super aggressively, but enough to open the lace stitches out nicely - and then stretched the ribbing to match in width. I didn't worry too much about the length because, as already mentioned, this baby was six feet long before blocking. A day later, I unpinned it and had a wonderful time taking lots of macro beauty shots. Sadly, none of them are modelled yet, as I was flying solo on the photography front, but hopefully I'll get some shots of it in action this week.

Ribbing to lace,

Lace to cabled ribbing...

I think that this might be my last ever foray into long stoles - this was supposed to be my February project for the LSG Cold Sheep thread, and it took me almost two and a half months! The next major project I take on is going to need a bit more challenge to keep me motivated. But I can't wait for the next chance to wear this super warm and scrummy scarf!

The Design Diaries: Setbacks

I'm sure I'm not unique amongst knitwear designers in that the design process doesn't always run a smoothly as we'd like everyone to believe. I've hit that inevitable point in my design process, the moment that always comes sooner or later - its roadblock time. Otherwise known as: Rachel has screwed something up and would like to consider throwing this damn project in the corner until it comes to a clear understanding of what it's done wrong, and promises to behave better in the future. Sometimes its a mental block in writing the pattern or fixing what my tech editor has picked up, sometimes it's a lack of motivation in knitting the sample. This time around, it's a size issue (TWSS):

I can happily report that the first hat is done, the Rower's version with lots of twisted stitches and lovely ribbing. I've very pleased with how it's turned out.

This hat now has crown shaping and is even blocked!

And I was going great guns on the slouchy Spectator's version - instead of having an all over pattern, this version has a couple of larger boat motifs that come from Swatch #4. Yesterday, I managed to get through the entire 32 rounds of Chart 1.

The first boat is done...

And I spread out the hat in my lap, and looked at it. Then I looked at it again. I turned it around and looked a third time. Then I put it on and went to look in the mirror. My suspicion was correct: the damned hat was too big. The ribbing was fine, but I had increased too many stitches at the start of the body of the hat. I wanted it to be slouchy, but not that slouch! So off to the frog pond it went - ouch!

...and undone. 

Hat #2 has been ripped back to the ribbing, numbers have been re-crunched, and the knitting is back on. In this scenario, the pattern may go to the tech editor without the second hat being finished, but hopefully it will be done soon.

We're going to need a lot more coffee.

One Decade

Dear Devil,

This past week you turned ten years old, and the top of my head exploded. How did you get to be 10? How can it possibly be that time has gone by so quickly? (How can I possibly have been a mother for ten entire years? The universe quakes on its foundations...)

Turning nine.

This past year has been one of much upheaval for all of us, but I think it's been a particular challenge for you. You've unexpectedly had to change schools, and go from the hothouse environment of a London private school, to the somewhat-less protected, vastly more diverse and chaotic life of a London state school. The upside of the move is that your confidence in your academic abilities has gone up, and we are hearing a lot less of "I can't" and seeing a lot more "I can".

I can fire a cannon...

Although it's been a tough change for you, you have weathered it like a champ. You've also managed very recently to face some pretty serious stuff head on and, with a bit of encouragement from your parents and your teachers, are doing a much better job of speaking out and standing up for yourself. I couldn't be prouder of you.

You have also begun to learn the ways of delayed gratification - you've worked hard to get on top of schoolwork so you could get access to The Game That Shall Not Be Named. You've also set yourself a goal of saving up a chunk of money so you could get your own iPod - this challenge brought out your entrepreneurial side, as you leafleted our street to get jobs walking dogs, and then followed up with neighbors, For someone who's natural tendency is a bit more towards passivity, particularly when interacting with adults you don't really know, this is a Big Deal.

As hard as it is to believe that you are ten, I only have to look at your face, getting ever closer in height to mine, to realize that time is passing very, very quickly. And its so important to recognize and take advantage of those moments when you are still my little girl who wants cuddles - they are becoming less and less common in the onslaught of impending teenager-hood and the overwhelming embarrassment of having me as a mother. Just you wait...

I love you so very much,

Mummy

The Design Diaries: just keep swatching...

In the first instalment of The Design Diaries, I talked about the inspiration behind my current project. Today I'm going to talk about everyone's most favourite topic: swatching.

Part 2A: Yarn Choice

In this particular project, I knew which yarn I was going to use almost as soon as I knew what I was going to design. At last year's Unravel, I was Allison's booth babe at the Sweet Georgia Yarns stand. We were right next to the wonderful and lovely Rachel Coopey, who was selling her then-most recent book. She also had a couple of crates of Titus yarn, from Baa Ram Ewe, and I was totally smitten with a couple of the colours. When only one skein of one of My Colours was left, I kept flinching every time someone picked it up. Finally, I just bought it so I could stop glaring at people who were fondling My Yarn. 

When the idea for the Boat Race Hats popped into my head, I knew that this was the project for that particular skein of yarn, in that particular colour. Thankfully, Baa Ram Ewe has just released this year's new colours, and one of those was perfect for the other side of the river.

So after deciding on the yarn and the colours, the next question was: how many people will want to knit a fingering weight hat (mostly) in reverse stockinette? Or rather: could I knit a fingering weight hat in reverse stockinette quickly enough for the time frame I have in mind?

The answer to that question was, as you may have guessed, a resounding no! So I decided to swatch with the yarn held doubled, hoping that it would knit up faster AND be a bit warmer against bitter river winds.

Part 2B: The Swatching

I am one of those odd people who really enjoys swatching. Well, I really enjoy it up to the point where I'm sick of it and just want to cast on already. So I pulled out some needles, some graph paper and some stitch dictionaries and tried out some combinations.

Swatch #1:

Worked on US 6/4.0 mm needles, the standard Tree of Life stitch pattern from Barbara Walker with slipped stitches, but worked in twisted stitches instead of normal.

Verdict: needs a smaller needle size, and no slipped stitches. Twisted ribbing is good though.

Swatch 1 - good for ruling things out

Swatch #2:

US 5/3.75 mm needles, again with twisted rib, but no slipped stitches. Also tried alternating the branches (oars) coming in to more closely mimic how a rowing shell looks from above.

Verdict: fabric is better, but probably still needs to drop down one more needle size. Working twisted stitches every row way better then slipped stitch version, not sure about the alternating oar arrangement.

Swatch 2 - getting closer...

Swatch #3:

US 4/3.5 mm needles, and more variations on the twisted rib and Tree of LIfe. 

Verdict: right needle size, hooray! I'm intrigued by carrying the twisted stitches from the oars along the vertical. Some variation of this will work well for the beanie version with a closely packed stitch pattern, but it's not going to be strong enough for the slouch, with a widely spaced stitch motif.

Swatch 3 - right fabric, maybe

Swatch #4:

US 4/3.5. mm needle, a larger motif that I'm looking at for the slouchy version of the hat. 

Verdict: I like the three stitch wide twisted stitch boat, and I'm also a big fan of having the oars stop when they reach the 3 stitch column, rather then feeding in a becoming part of it. 

I think the oars need to be longer then they are in the lower iterations, but this is just about right.

So now I'm at the stage where I've got a good sense of what the fabric is I'm aiming for, as well as the bones of the stitch patterns. And it's definitely time to start the prototypes:

I love 1x1 twisted ribbing...

The Design Diaries: Inspiration Strikes!

Knitters have access to a wide range of patterns, of all ranges of complexities and beauty. But how do such things come to be? How do designers come up with their ideas? What is the process like? How do they get from idea to final piece? I was recently struck very forcefully by a flash of knit-design inspiration, and thought that it might be interesting and/or entertaining to share some of my design process with you. Keep in mind, this is only my way of working through the design process, and it is going be different for everyone. 

Part 1: The Inspiration

I usually have a pretty good idea in mind of what I am designing before I start. Sometimes the inspiration is a building, sometimes a place, sometimes the pattern of leaves or branches or the outlines of mountains against the horizon. But this particular design was inspired by a van parked alongside the Thames with the following logo on the side: 

I live in Putney, which is the starting point for the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. For those of you unfamiliar with the event, this event ha been running for almost 200 years, and pits the top crews from Oxford and Cambridge against each other in a head-to-head battle over a 4+ mile course running from Putney Bridge to Mortlake. As with any event with such a long trajectory, there is much history, many controversies and a pile of breathtaking moments.

The reason I look forward to the race is a pretty complicated one. When I was 8 years old, I started taking ballet lessons after school. I started off with one lesson a week, then moved up to two, then three. By the time I started high school (Year 9 for those not familiar with the US educational system), I was dancing for a couple of hours a day, five days a week, and most of the day on Saturdays. I was also 5'8", and not exactly built like a ballerina (to put it mildly). It became abundantly clear soon thereafter that I was not destined to be the next prima ballerina of the Boston Ballet, and I ended up stopping cold turkey.

So there I was, used to partaking in strenuous physical activity more or less constantly, but with no activity any more. Enter my newly-formed high school rowing team, which saved me. In so many ways, crew was the perfect sport for me: I was tall, strong, heavy and had pretty good kinesthetic awareness from many years of ballet. And for the first time since hitting puberty, I didn't feel like a bull in a china shop. Instead of feeling like I need to minimise myself to fit in with the smaller, skinnier dancers around me, I could suddenly be proud of my size and strength, instead of feeling like I needed to apologise to everyone. In my novice year, I was the stroke of my boat, and had one of the fastest erg times on the team. That was the start of fifteen years as a rower, ranging from that high school crew team to Junior National Camps in the summer, to winning the Club Four event at the Head of the Charles and the collegiate league championships in my last year of college, to rowing at the club level at Potomac Boat Club during graduate school. After grad school, I moved to Arizona, where crew teams were non-existent, and took up cycling and triathlon. When we moved to London, I found rowing again, and while I haven't started up back in the boat myself, I can see the shells out on the water on a daily basis.

All this is a very long way of saying that rowing has a special place in my heart, and the Boat Race van kindled my design inspiration in a major way. So what is it I'm going to design?

A hat. A rowing hat, to be precise. Actually two hats: a rower's hat and a spectator's hat, sharing a boat-inspired stitch pattern, but in two different shapes. A slouchy version with only a few motifs for those of us shore-side, and a beanie with an all-over pattern for keeping a rower's ears warm. Because even in April, it can be cold and raw out there on the water. In the next installment of the Design Diaries, I'll talk about swatching for needle size, stitch pattern and the yarn. Oh the yarn...