Tying up the loose ends

I've been finishing up a few things.  I actually finished this bookmark a couple of months ago, but it's taken me a couple of months to get around to taking a photo of it.  It's the Tell Me a Tail Bookmark designed by Christine Jeffery.  It was, notionally, for a February KAL.  Well, here it is May, and I'm finally posting the finished product.

Next on the finishing pile has been my scarf to enter into this year's scarf festival.  I have to send it off in the next couple of days or I'll miss out. : (  I've knitted it from Sublime Soya Cotton which I found at Wondoflex.  It's a type of yarn I've not used before and felt very much like cotton to knit with.  I've made it fairly short so that the weight of the cotton won't drag it down.  I banged it out fairly quickly, but hopefully it's deserving of a place in the festival.

Tragically, I have nothing on the needles at the moment.  I'm all lined up to do some leg warmers for daughter number 2.  Our trip to Spotlight to choose yarn was very disappointing, so we're off to look elsewhere tomorrow.  The idea is for stripes of purple and multi-colour purple, in a cable rib pattern.  Stand by.  I'll keep you posted.

Fair Isle Pullover in testing mode

I've finished my Fair Isle Pullover, as pictured, and it's now up for testing.  I've rewritten the pattern to hopefully line up the pattern on the sleeves with the body pattern.  If I get a couple of test knitters, this rewrite can be proved or disproved.

I find collars very flattering, and I'm planning to try out different types of collars in upcoming designs.  This first attempt at a collar is a polo collar.  I wasn't very optimistic about how it would turn out, so I'm really pleased that it actually came out as it's supposed to.  Yay for me!

I'm forging ahead as fast as I can on a scarf for the Scarf Festival mentioned in my last post.  The pattern for the main body is very easy to remember, so I've had no trouble knitting during our family Harry Potter fest.  We're hoping to watch all the movies before the next one come's out.  Tonight we saw the Order of the Phoenix.  It's a shame that chunks of the book have to be left out so that it doesn't go for too long.  Enjoyable all the same, though.

Once this scarf is complete, I've had a request for some leg warmers.  I haven't done those before, so that'll be something fun and new to try.

Fair Isle Pullover nearing completion

I've been in a big rut, just not feeling 100%.  I'm on the way back up now. 

Here are some photos of a Fair Isle Pullover sleeve, one in progress and one completed.

Although I don't have any photos to show it, the pullover is now nearly finished.  It's all sewn up, collar knitted, and I'm now in the process of weaving in ends.  There are tons of them!  I spent ages on it last night and there's still lots to go.

I used Shirley Paden's "Knitwear Design Workshop" to work out how to do a polo collar.  It's worked out beautifully!  I'm feeling like an awesome clever clogs!!  :)

I wanting to get this finished so I can get going on a scarf for this year's Scarf Festival which is being hosted by the National Wool Museum in Geelong.  I haven't done this before.  It should be fun!

Go on.  Take the plunge and design a scarf for this festival!  Entries close on the 6th of May.  This year's theme is the Rhythm of Life.

Scarves are great to start designing with.  No shaping issues!  You can just knit till you've had enough and then stop.  Entry forms are available from the linked page.

The trouble with sleeves

Well, I've learnt a few things about designing sleeves over the last couple of weeks.  Most designs I've seen have a whole number of pattern repeats for the body and sleeves of a pullover.  If you want a fairly close fitting sleeve and have large pattern repeat, this is where we strike problems.  With this Fair Isle pullover I've had the problem that, for the smallest size, two pattern repeats were too narrow, and three were way too wide.  I had about a third of the sleeve knitted before I realised I had to pull it out and re-plan the sleeves.  Another problem was that I had the sleeves to fit fairly closely at the wrist, then gradually increase to the upper arm.  But of course my arm doesn't gradually increase from the wrist to the upper arm.  Doh!  The widest part of my forearm is 8cm larger than my wrist, then my upper arm is only 3cm larger again.  So although sleeves generally increase gradually, a lot of our arm increase is in the first 14cm.  What to do?  As the far as the Fair Isle patterning goes, I saw the options of:

• going totally plain for the sleeves, which works really well were I've seen it done
• having 3 pattern repeats so the sleeve would be too wide rather than too narrow
• using fractional pattern repeats

I was on the verge of going totally plain, but after quizzing a few fellow Ravelers for their opinions, I decided on fractional repeats.  So, as in the photo, I've got two full repeats with a few extra stitches at either side, keeping it all symmetrical, and including extra ease, so that hopefully my forearms won't be squeezed to a pulp.  Going by the measurement table I've been using, it seems that my arms may be a tad larger than standard for my bust size. 

The armholes for the front and back were planned using the original amount of sleeve ease to calculate the depth of the armholes.  I have no idea if the sleeves will fit into the armholes, given the changes that I'm making.  My current feeling is that I'm going to make them fit, whether they do or not!  I can rewrite the pattern for future use, but I don't feel like reknitting the whole pullover.  Bad girl!

Wish me luck.

Abundance Pullover Pattern Now Available

The pattern for the Abundance Pullover is now available.

This is a Boat Necked Lace Pullover, knitted in a Bamboo Cotton blend.  The yarn I've used is Sirdar Juicy DK, which is beautifully soft and has gorgeous drape.

Abundance Pullover
Knitting Pattern
Yarn Suggested: Sirdar Juicy DK or any DK/8 ply yarn (preferable a bamboo blend)
Gauge: 18 sts = 4 inches in Bluebells Stitch (wet blocked)
Needle Size: 4mm
Meterage: 942 - 1130 m (1030 - 1236 yards )

This pattern is available to buy from Ravelry for $US 5.00

 

A retro game is aired.

Due to the miraculous appearance of some time, DH has been doing a major clear out.  In the process, Frank Hyde's Footy Game was unearthed and it came out for an airing this afternoon.

Growing up in the Aussie Rules state of Victoria, I managed to get through my whole childhood not recalling having seen one game of "Footy" on TV.  I refuse to be drawn into the specifics of whether it's Rugby, Rugby Union, Rugby League or whatever you wish to call it.  The NSW connections of DH may explain the appearance of this game into his dim, distant past.

Here's the field in play.  Notice the the recuperating dental surgery patient, wearing a bandage as a badge of honour.  I'm not sure how the game went, but I noticed both players scoring at least one 'try'.

Here's a closer look at the players.  DH noted that the rules have changed a bit. (One card described a player being dumped on his head!)  The rules may have changed, but I'm sure I've seen this done on occasion.

And here's the spinning wheel which determines which of your players has the next move.

You may, like me, wonder who the hell Frank Hyde is/was.  If so, here's the news.
Feel free to tell me that this game is now worth lots of money!

On a more sombre note, I've been watching, with horror, the news about today's earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.  It's very scary.  I really feel for everyone there dealing with worry, fear, injury and even death.  I hope everyone who's still trapped can be freed safely.

Fair Isle back completed

The back of my Fair Isle pullover is finished!  Yay!  The allover nature of the pattern, with 5 different contrast colours makes it so interesting to look at.  I know I keep saying it, but I get a better idea of it looking at the photos than when I'm working on it.  I suppose it's that big picture that I'm getting - standing back to observe.

In between finishing the back and really getting into the front, I've been knitting a little project as part of a KAL (Knit a Long).  I explain that, because you might be like me, and take a couple of years to work out what KAL stands for.  There's a great monthly KAL happening in the Budding Designers Downunder group on Ravelry.  The KAL supports a different budding Australian or New Zealand designer each month.  This month it's Christine Jeffery.  I've chosen her Tell Me a Tail bookmark.  I'm not sure that the  Regia 4 colour sock yarn that I've chosen is exactly letting this pattern stitch shine at it's best, it's still a fun and pretty project.  It didn't take long to find a member of the family putting their hand up for this one!