The Knitting on Top of the World Knit-a-thon

We Have a Winner!!! Next Giveaway! AND Tips and Tricks on Hems and Button Bands

And the Winner of the Northern Lights Cardi Book Giveaway IS:

Hi, all!  Thanks for your giveaway entries - I figure about 10 of us are knitting the NLC currently, and that about the same number intend to knit it in future, but it is too hard to keep track this way to be sure.  I think I'll set up separate threads in the Ravelry group (nicky epstein kototw knitathon) for people to "sign in" when they start to knit each pattern, so that we can get a clearer idea of how many of us are doing each KAL (and maybe get the yarn companies excited, too!)

The winner of the giveaway for a signed copy of Nicky Epstein's Knitting on Top of the World is:

NORMA HORAN!!!

 Here are some Northern Lights to celebrate!

Congratulations, Norma!  I'm so glad you won!  Norma is one of the very first Ravelry KOTOTW group members, and I've enjoyed getting to know her a bit and seeing her lovely knits (she is making Nicky's starburst scarf from a few Vogue Knittings ago - check it out!)

Norma, if you could send me your snail-mail address, I'll have a copy of Nicky's book on its way to you pronto!

And, before those of you who didn't win sigh in despair, here's another giveaway!  I have 3 more signed copy of Nicky Epstein's KOTOTW to give away, people!

All you need to do to enter, is to email me at maryp55124ATyahooDOTcom  (fill in the symbols for the bolded words - I understand that this might save me from some unwanted spam), and tell me up to three (3) of your favorite books!  

Please send me your email entry no later than MIDNIGHT Eastern Standard Time, January 31, 2010!  I'll assemble the list of our favorite books and share (so we can all cuddle up this winter with a cup of tea and a good read... when we're not knitting, that is!)

Progress on the Northern Lights Cardigan

Here is a great picture of Cai's NLC in progress:

Isn't it beautiful?  The jewel-like colors are really gorgeous together.  I'm looking forward to her sending in a picture of the final project!

As for my own NLC, I am ALMOST DONE!  This sweater went much more quickly than I expected, probably because I had a lot more knitting time due to the holidays, but also because I find Fair Isle simply un-put-downable! I end up knitting just one more row, and then one more row, to see how each new color looks as it comes into play... until it is way past my bedtime. 

I also FINALLY found some buttons that I think are perfect, at one of my favorite LYS's, Coldwater Collaborative in Excelsior, MN:

Pretty, huh!  (I find it amusing that I hate to shop for clothes, shoes, pretty much anything you can buy at a mall, but will spend HOURS searching for the perfect yarn, or button, or ribbon...)

I am nearly done sewing on the Swarovski crystal beads:

So, now I just have to wait for the store to call when the buttons are ready to be picked up... WHEE!

Finishing Your Knitting - Tips and Techniques

I thought it might be helpful for those of you who are new-ish knitters, to talk about some of the techniques in this sweater.  I'm basically a self-taught knitter, and learned by trial and error  (LOTS of error!), and thought it might be helpful to hear how to avoid some of the problems I encountered early on in my knitting. 

Please note, however, that I don't think there is ever any one right way to knit, or sew, or do any particular stitch -- every knitter develops his or her own unique methods, so if you have already figured out how to do this stuff your way, please don't feel I'm trying to impose or "preach".  I find this one of the loveliest parts of knitting, actually -- you can't spend time with other knitters without picking up handy new ideas, information, and methods to enhance your own enjoyment of the art of knitting.

First Technique -  Fair Isle

Fair Isle involves knitting (or purling) with two different colors along each row, leaving the yarn not in use trailing across the wrong side of the knitting.  The hardest thing about Fair Isle, hands down, is  learning to leave the yarn not in use loose enough, so that the resulting Fair Isle fabric is every bit as stretchy as it would be if you were simply doing stockinette stitch in just one color.  You don't want the fair isle to "pucker"; it won't be as visually pleasing if it doesn't lie flat, PLUS if you pull the yarn too tightly, your fabric won't be elastic, and may not even be as wide as it needs to be to fit that particular part of your body!

If you are new to this technique, it is really worth practicing until you get a sense of just how loose to leave the unused strand of yarn lying across the wrong side of your knitting, as you pick it up to knit the next stitch in that color.  I know I am a naturally tight knitter, and it took quite a while for me to loosen my "floats" (i.e., the unused lengths of yarn behind the active stitches) enough so that the fabric was flat and stretchy. 

Here is a picture of the back of my Fair Isle yoke section:

Here's another tip:  when you are working two different colors in one row, you don't have to twist the colors each time they change, like you would if you were switching colors at the edge of an intarsia motif, so as to avoid a hole.  You can just keep one color of yarn on "top" and the other on the "bottom" as you knit along.  This way, you can to avoid the laborious untwisting of both of your yarns once they get hopelessly tangled. 

(I didn't actually realize that you didn't need to twist the colors on Fair Isle, for YEARS.  Needless to say, I like this kind of color knitting a LOT better now than I did, back when I would have to stop mid-row to untwist the colors. :D)

One exception to this rule, is that you want to avoid having really long floats, mainly because it is so easy to have them catch on fingers or buttons, etc., and snag your lovely colorwork. 

On this pattern (on most patterns, in fact), I limit my floats to three stitches.  So, in those places on this pattern where there are five stitches in one color, I twisted the yarn after the third stitch to "trap" the float.  You can see this on the very bottom row in the picture above - the white yarn is "trapped" every third stitch.   However, this does mean that the yarns will spiral around each other as you knit, so you'll have to stop occasionally and untwist them. 

On the front, you want your Fair Isle knitted fabric to lay flat and to be smooth.  As you can see on the picture above with the crystals, the knitting isn't puckered up, so my yoke will be the right size to fit around my shoulders.

Digression - Finishing Sweaters Can Be FUN!!!

I am clearly in the minority of knitters, in that I truly enjoy the process of finishing a knitted project.  Granted, weaving in thread ends on a multicolored sweater does get a bit tedious, but I truly find pleasure in seaming knitted pieces together, sewing up hems, and picking up stitches around armholes, necklines, and cardigan fronts until I get the edgings just right.

When I was really young and just starting to knit, an older friend of my mom's who taught me to tat mentioned that she had once enjoyed knitting, but gave it up, because no matter how nicely she knitted the individual pieces of a sweater, she couldn't seem to sew it all together without the end result looking somehow botched and crooked. 

My sister and I were very tall, even as kids, and learned to sew to make clothes that would fit us (a skill that came in really handy when we moved to London and couldn't find clothes long enough for our gangly teenage legs and arms!)  Maybe this sewing knowledge helps a bit, too, in realizing that you need to gather the top of a set-in sleeve to get it to fit right, for instance. 

Anyway, I wish I could just sit down with knitters who loathe this finishing part of knitting, and share what little knowledge I have about putting the finishing touches on a knitted garment. 

(For an example of true masters of the art of finishing knitted garments, check out the Rainey Sisters:  the way they finish their sweaters is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.  I just sigh with delight at their talents; I'm not as much of a perfectionist, by far, but have learned a lot by following their blog and seeing the thought and care they put into both altering and finishing their projects.)

Second Technique -   Hemming

Hemming is one of those essential techniques for finishing sweaters; I tend to favor patterns with hemmed bottom edges, as I just find them more comfortable than the classic ribbed edging, which tends to ride up when sit down or stand up.  Annoying.

The tricky part of hemming, is to make sure you sew loosely enough that you don't create a really noticeable ridge on the front of the knitting. 

On this sweater, the hem is knitted on a needle one size smaller than the body, which is really smart (of course, considering Nicky is our fearless leader!) 

Picture a circle - if you traced another circle just inside it, that inside circle would need to be a bit smaller to fit!  So, for the bottom and sleeve hems of the NLC, the folded-up hem must form a slightly smaller circle in order to fit just right.

To sew the hem on this sweater, you just need to fold the hem inwards on the garter stitch row that forms the turning edge (created when you change needle sizes), and then gently tack the hem down onto the inside of the bottom edge.

I usually use a long-tail cast on, which leaves a long spiralled edge, as shown at the top of the hem, above.  Rather than stitching onto this edge, I picked up the next row of "loops" inside this edge, leaving the spiral itself loose.  I found that this also helped the hem edge to lay flat, and prevented the top of the hem edge from pushing outwards against the bottom of the sweater and making a visible ridge on the front.

Since there are an even number of stitches in the hem and the body of the sweater, you can make your stitching nice and even by picking up one hem stitch and sewing it to one stitch of the body in order.  The needles in these pictures show where I opted to sew onto the wrong side of the sweater; one stitch into the left "leg" of a knit stitch, and the next stitch into the "bump" on top of a purl stitch:

 
Here are pictures of these stitches being picked up as the hem is being sewn on:

 
I picked up the "left leg" of the knit stitch; and then:

I picked up the "purl bump" of the next stitch.  You can use the garter ridge directly above the hem edge to help make sure you are consistently sewing into stitches on the same row.

Third Technique - Picking Up Stitches for a Ribbed Edging

Ahh, picking up stitches.  It is really important to let yourself experiment with this step, until you get the edging on a neckline, armhole, hem or button band exactly right.   We've all seen homemade sweaters with necklines with ribbing so loose, it curls up and away from the neck instead of lying flat; or cardigans with button bands way too long, so that they "ruffle" and don't hold the edge of the cardigan firm and straight.

I use the "Pick up X stitches" number stated in the pattern as a rough guide only, not only because I usually have lengthened the knitted piece, but also because there is such a wide variation in individual knitter's gauges, you need to figure out what will work for your own knitting.  What is important to me, is that the finished ribbed edging look just right - not puckery, not ruffly.

On this sweater, you are picking up stitches along three different stitch patterns along each front:

 - the waffle stitch on the body;

 - the Fair Isle yoke; and

 - the edge of the neck ribbing.

However, each of these areas of the sweater has a slightly different row gauge or "rows per inch".  The Fair Isle yoke has less rows per inch than the waffle stitch, because the "garter" or 2 knit rows of the waffle stitch aren't as tall as two rows of plain stockinette would be.  The neck ribbing is knitted with smaller needles, so it has more rows per inch than the Fair Isle yoke as well.

So, it would make sense to pick up MORE stitches on the Fair Isle yoke edge, than it would on the waffle stitch or ribbed areas.

To demonstrate what happens if you just pick up the same number of stitches per row on each area, for my first attempt, I picked up 3 stitches for every 4 rows, all the way from the bottom to the top of the right front edge.  This was the perfect number of stitches per row for the waffle stitch area:

Nice and flat, and firm.

BUT, it wasn't enough stitches for the Fair Isle yoke area:

See?  It is all gathered and puckery.  If I got bored and just left it this way, the sweater wouldn't look right, wouldn't hang right, and would fill me with woe every time I wore it.  So it is WORTH it to give this edging stuff several tries - really!

Another thing to think about when putting a ribbed edge on a sweater, is the top and bottom edge.  Ribbing naturally draws inwards, so you want to pick up more stitches on the very top and bottom inch or so of each piece, to decrease this drawing-in tendency, and to make sure you pick up your last stitch at the very topmost or bottommost edge:

I thought this bottom edge looked OK; it looks like a continuous line of knitting from the last stitch of the sweater edge, to the bottom-most rib stitch.

HOWEVER, the topmost edge of my ribbing didn't work out as well.  See how drawn-in it is?  I didn't pick up enough stitches here, and the effect is to make the edge look like it stops 1/4 inch short of the top edge of the neck. 

So, I unravelled my first edging and started again.  It would be nice not to have to do this, and less time-consuming. BUT you are going to wear this work of art hopefully for years, and you want the really noticeable bits, like the top edge right next to your face, to be perfect!  You don't want to have them catch your eye in the mirror every time you wear the sweater and think, "Darn!  I should have unravelled that and fixed it."  Besides, it doesn't take very much time to knit 8 little ribbed rows - I have come to expect that it may take quite a few tries to get the edging just the way I want it to look.

For my second try, I picked up a stitch in every row at the top and bottom edge of the ribbing for about 1"; 3 stitches for every 4 rows on the rest waffle stitch area and the rest of the neck ribbing; and 1 stitch for EVERY row on the Fair Isle yoke area. 

Here is what it looked like to pick up stitches in the Fair Isle area.  You want to make sure you insert your needle along the same exact "column" or vertical row of stitches, so that the edging is perfectly even:

As you can see, picking up a stitch for every row of the Fair Isle area worked MUCH better:

The Fair Isle isn't all puckery and bunchy here. 

Here is the almost-finished sweater:

Now I just have to finish sewing on the crystal beads, wait for the buttons, and then 'll model it for you!

In Other News:

I went to see a wonderful concert with my friend, Laurie, this past Friday night.  The Minnesota Orchestra played the complete score of The Wizard of Oz, WHILE the movie was simultaneously being shown on a big screen behind the musicians.  It was just phenomenal!  The Harold Arlen score is just wonderful (think of all those lovely tunes, and the scary Evil Monkey music...).  I am a huge fan of this movie, and the Orchestra Hall program invite suggested that audience members could come in costume, if they wished.

And, since I just happen to have a complete Dorothy costume, left over from my days at the kooky software company where we had Halloween costume contests, I decided to wear it!  (Also, I told Laurie I was thinking about doing this, and she dared me, and well, I can't refuse a dare...)  And finally, I'm 47 years old for goodness sake!  This is likely the last time I will ever wear this costume.  Sigh, my youth has flown, but my extroverted nature has not.

So, since I didn't want to have to change at the restaurant where we had dinner before the concert, I changed at work at the end of the day:

Note poor Dave, the attorney who has the office next to mine.  There he is, doing actual work, while I'm cavorting about in a demented Dorothy costume.  I couldn't find the Toto doll I had used 10 years ago, as my son is now 13 and has banished his stuffed animals, so I used a squeaky stuffed dachshund doggy play-toy instead. 

When I walked into Lotus A Go-Go (Laurie's and my favorite pre-symphony restaurant as they serve vegetarian entrees for Laurie), the other customers were highly amused, to say the least.  

And, not surprisingly considering that this is Minnesota, the land of the extremely introverted... (Minnesota joke:  How do you know when a Minnesotan is an extrovert?  Answer:  When he talks to you, he's looking at your shoes instead of his own!), there were only three other people who decided to dress up for the concert.  They also chose Dorothy costumes, but unlike me, they were all under the age of 7.  Ahem. 

Oh well.  Laurie has seats right up in front, and the orchestra musicians got a big kick out of me walking by in Full Dorothy Regalia - I squeaked my little Toto toy for them.  And a number of the tiny Dorothys evidently thought I was the real thing and asked for photo ops:

SO CUTE!!!

If you have a chance to attend a similar "movie night" by the orchestra or symphony in your city, I urge you to go.  It was just thrilling to have the orchestra playing the music right in front of you, not to mention seeing this classic film on the big screen.  It just caught the audience up entirely; I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when Dorothy told the Scarecrow that she thought she would miss him most of all (OK, OK, well, I couldn't tell actually, as I was crying myself - I'm such a sap.)

DECISIONS, DECISIONS...

I've pondered your comments, and have decided to go with my instincts here.  Instead of waiting until Feb. 1 to start the next project, I'm just going to keep knitting at my own pace.  I think it would be neat if I could actually beat my 4-year deadline, but I'm not going to rush it.  I can't let knitting take precedence over the rest of my life (for instance, tonight we need to go do some extra-credit math homework... YEE HAH!).  And also, I need to earn a living.  Teenage boys eat a lot of pizza, after all! 

So, once I've stitched on all the crystal beads onto my NLC, I am going to start knitting the Project No. 2, the Copenhagen Royal Shawl!  

Congratulations again, Norma!

And I hope lots of you enter the next giveaway!  I'd love to know what your favorite books are!

XOXOXO Mar

Who is the Hallo-winner? Plus, a Present From Nicky to Gilda's Club, and Us!

Halloween Yarny Goodness Giveaway Winner!

Well, it is ABOUT TIME I got back here to tell you all who won our Halloween Yarny Goodness Giveaway!

(OOOH, the suspense is killing me!)

And, the winner is:

Marion!

Marion's favorite Halloween candies from childhood:

 - "Big Hunk," and

 - large red licorice ropes.

(Big Hunk!  MWAH HAH!!! -- I, of course, immediately thought of Hugh Jackman... But, upon further reflection, I seem to recall there was a candy bar when we were younger that was wrapped in silver, and sort of big and chunky, with raisins and maybe nuts in it...)

Congratulations, Marion!  Please send me your snail mail address at maryp55124@yahoo.com, and I will send your your yummy so-soft GGH Savanna Yarn!

*  *  *  *  *

So, as you probably noted from the comments, our big favorite candy was Smarties (6 votes) followed by Candy Corn and Heath Bars (with 2 votes each).  It was great to hear the names of candy I haven't thought of in years, like Now & Later, and Necco wafers - funny how you can still taste those candies so vividly, and picture the wrappers.  I wonder if childhood memories are just more intense (or if I was a candy fanatic?)

My own favorite candy would have to be 1,000 Grand bars (WHOO HOO, KateBee and I think alike on that).  (I'm CRAZY about white chocolate, but that generally is more of an Easter thing.... although WHY they don't make white chocolate Halloween ghosts, I have NO idea!) 

I naturally gravitate to anything that combines caramel and chocolate, though, so Twix, Rolos, Snickers, Milk Duds, any or all of those made me totally happy and smiley when I found them in my Halloween night's candy haul.  (Not so much Three Musketeers bars, though -- that light brown foamy part just seemed downright suspicious to me.) 

I also had (and still have!) a big weakness for chewy fruity things, like Starburst, or those fruit Toosie Rolls, Mambas, or Gummy Bears (the real kind, Haribo from Germany).  Or those old-fashioned caramels with the white fondant in the middle - yum! 

OOOH, or Pearson's Nut Rolls, salty and sweet.  It is the 100th anniversary of the Pearson Nut Roll, made right here in the Twin Cities.  I occasionally have one for lunch -- I've convinced myself that they are health food, as they are covered in peanuts.  :D

So, where do we line up with other folks, when it comes to favorite Halloween candy?  I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio on the way to work last Friday, and the commentator mentioned that Bon Appetit Magazine's on-site blog had entries on the best and worst Halloween candies of all time.

Their top 3 favorites were:

1)  Krackel bars;

2) Reeses Peanut Butter Pumpkins (must not sell these in my geographic area...); and

3) Take Five Bars.  (I think these were invented after my childhood was long gone; I understand they involve some combination of chocolate, caramel, and pretzels...  might be worth investigating.)

Bon Appetit listed the following as the top 3 least favorites:

1)  Smarties (really?  They must not have spoken to the REAL experts when they did their polling, obviously);

2)  Candy Corn (again, really?  Then again, I once ate enough candy corn to get really, really sick, which seems to have forever quashed my own desire for that particular sweet); and

3)  Circus peanuts (you remember, sort of like big orange stale marshmallow-type things- I have to agree with them there, bleccchhh...)

A REALLY GOOD Consolation Prize!

For those folks out there who haven't won anything yet - never fear.  There will be more giveaways, because life should be full of fun stuff that comes in the mail and cheers you up, IMHO.

And besides - here is a gift from Nicky!

Gilda's Club Hat Pattern

I mentioned to Nicky that my friend, Eva, a wonderful woman, role model, and heroine of mine (who also happens to be a breast cancer survivor) is on the board of our local Gilda's Club chapter.  Gilda's Club   is an organization founded by Joanna Bull, M.A., M.F.C.C. (along with Gene Wilder and Joel Siegel) in honor of Gilda Radner, the comedian and actress best known for her work on Saturday Night Live, with whom Ms. Bull worked as a cancer psychotherapist during the comedian's illness.  

The Gilda's Club mission is to create welcoming communities of free emotional and social support for everyone living with cancer - men, women, teens and children - along with their families and friends. 

The local chapter here in Minneapolis is trying to do fundraising to open a Clubhouse in our city; but due to the economy, the fundraising is going a bit more slowly than expected.  The funds will probably be available to open a clubhouse sometime in 2010. 

I thought, wouldn't it be nice if our First Thursdays Knitting Group tried to mobilize other Twin Cities knitters to create chemo caps and shawls, so that when the Gilda's Clubhouse opens, there will be a supply already on hand? 

I mentioned this to Nicky, and she offered to design a free chemo hat pattern especially for Gilda's Club!  (How great is THAT???  Thank you, Divine Ms. E!) 

Cute, huh!  The hat pictured is knitted out of Berroco Comfort (the same yarn as used for Han Riyo, the dragon in KOTOTW, BTW.  I really liked working with this yarn; it is extremely high-quality acrylic, non-allergenic, soft and radiant.  I made a hat and matching shawl, which we gave away at a recent Gilda's Club benefit in the silent auction.  Here is Eva herself, cute as a button, modeling these:

And a close-up of the shawl (which is simply a repeat of the hat stitch pattern with garter stitch edges):

 

We are having brochures printed up to deliver to local Twin Cities yarn stores, and our First Thursdays Group knitted up samples of the hats for the stores to display by the brochures.  In the meantime, however, I thought you guys might like to have this great free pattern, too! 

If you wish, you could maybe knit one of these caps for your local Gilda's Club, if there is one in you area, or for hospitals, hospices or other cancer support organizations; there seems to be a constant need for good-looking and soft chemo caps!  Or, you could make one for yourself (as they are pretty cute -- I think I will be making one in a warm wool soon, as I seem to be losing a hat at the rate of one per week lately... oi.)

BTW, the brochure is designed by Kim Bowden, one of the First Thursdays knitters who is also a very talented artist and designer.  She is also working on a logo for the KOTOTW Knitathon -- I am going to try to figure out how to incorporate it into the banner for this Blog, as well as on the Yahoo Group page, and a "button" to use to identify a Ravelry KOTOTW Group. 

But for now, the full extent of my technical knowledge is to offer a link to a free download of the hat here:

Download the Gilda's Club Chemo Cap Pattern

For those of you who have joined the KOTOTWKnitathon Yahoo Group, I'll put this hat pattern in the general file there, too.

Enjoy!

*  *  *  *  *

There are just 3 more days until I take off for my cruise!  2 more work days to get everything calmed down enough that I can be TOTALLY OUT OF TOUCH for a whole week!  (When you work as a lawyer, this is RARELY possible, unfortunately.  But since I'm going to be on a boat on the ocean, I've decided not ot bring the laptop, and to declare myself unreachable, so I can enjoy a real vacation without legal interruptions!)

I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Project #5 - Baltic Cuffs and Caps (And More Swatchy Goodness)

Hello Fellow KOTOTW Knit-o-Philes!  It is cold and damp here in Minnesota.  I'm home today with Wonder-Nephew, who sadly has some flu bug that looks suspiciously H1N1-ish (he appears to be on the mend today, which is a huge relief!)  So, this was a perfect evening to knit more swatches, and then  blog about swatching, as we continue to plan our upcoming Knitting Around the World travels!

So, without further ado:

The Baltic Cuffs and Cap (Project No. 5, May 2010)

A fun Nicky tidbit --- when we looked through KOTOTW together recently, she mentioned that during the photo shoot, the hat was somehow accidentally put on the model's head upside down and backwards!  (Nicky usually attends all of the photo shoots for her books, but missed some for this book.)  Nicky had intended for the green bobbled band shown along the bottom edge of the hat in the photo, to frame the face. 

Nicky noted in the book that the hat can be worn with the green band in front, but I thought I'd mention in case you missed it.  I think that the optional little tucks in the top front of the hat as worn in the photo would work better at the nape of the neck, but this model (oh she of the luminous eyes and full pouty lips...) can wear it however she likes and still look fetching...

Here are the colors I chose for the Baltic Cuffs and Cap:

Instead of the Woolywasch yarn called for in the pattern (which I couldn't find), I am using Elann.com's Peruvian Highland Wool.  I like this yarn for its springy, spongy, easy-to-knit quality -- wool is kind of the opposite of knitting with 100% cotton, which has no spring at all, and is much easier on the hands.  It comes in a range of 61 really rich and luminous colors; this picture, taken at night, just doesn't do it justice; I wish you could see the rich honeyed yumminess of the gold hue in particular.  Peruvian Highland wool is also springy enough that you can knit it on a range of needle sizes.  Although the label suggests a worsted gauge of 19 stitches per inch on US 6 - 7 needles, it can be smooshed down to a much smaller gauge on small needles, and is also lofty enough to fill out fabric knit at a looser gauge on bigger needles. . .

. . . which turns out to be a good thing in my case, as in my glee at getting to experiment with the large range of color choices, I somehow neglected to notice that the recommended yarn gauge for this pattern is in fact 25 stitches per 4 inches rather than 19.  (Oi.)  Elann.com also makes Peruvian Highland Sport with a suggested gauge fo 24-26 stitches per 4 inches, but not in as broad a color range.

If you are planning on joining me on the KAL for this project, you might want to check out yarn options at your friendly LYS - there are many yarns on the market that would work for this project, and since it isn't very large, you might even want to check out something decadent like Blue Sky Alpacas Melange, or Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. 

A plug for your LYS here --I know I've set a bad example by getting my yarn for this project online, but I needed to economize, to afford yarn for 50 projects; to do so, I relied heavily on the volume discounts offered by Elann.com and Webs (www.yarn.com). 

However, nothing can replace the pleasure of being able to actually touch theactual yarn (especially for projects worn close to the face like this one).  And, unless you can actually mix and combine colors in person, in normal light, you're taking a chance that the yarns you choose online will actually work together in real life, given the basic fact that yarn colors viewed on a website, or on a particular monitor, might appear quite different from the actual color of the yarn itself.  I ended up having to order additional colors of yarn for some of the KOTOTW projects, due to unexpected surprises when I opened the packages and realized the first color combination I chose turned out to clash or just not give the effect I hoped for, based on how the yarn colors appeared online.

Here is my swatch; MAN, was this fun to knit or WHAT!  I cannot wait to make this project now!  The actual colors are brighter and prettier than this; I'll take another picture in the AM to see if I can get something closer to the actual swatch.

As you can see, my color choices are fairly close to the original, so I'm REALLY hoping some other Fair Isle fans will knit along on this one with me using entirely different colorways.  For instance, blues and teals would work (I know, there I go again - at least I resisted blues on this one project!), or shades of reds and pinks.  It would be interesting to do it in shades of gray, white and black, like an old movie - you would look just like Loretta Young in The Bishop's Wife! (Speaking of a favorite Christmas movie... that reminds me, I still owe you guys MY list of favorite romantic comedies!!!) 

I tend to knit really tightly, so I made my first swatch on size 6's.  Then I realized that I had chosen the wrong yarn, and unravelled it and started again; I knit up to the row of red dots with 4's, and then finished with 5's.  The gauge on the 4's isn't exact, but it is pretty close - just a bit longer, at 29 stitches = 4 inches instead of 30.  But since I have a big head and really long arms, a bit of extra length won't bother me.

Also, even though knitting a thicker yarn on smaller needles than recommended results in a thick, dense, somewhat stiff fabric, I think it will work for this project.  The thick fabric will make the hat and cuffs really warm and insulating (picture standing on a train platform in the whistling wind in the dark, with 15 minutes to go until the next train - BRRR!!!!)  Also, I find it easier to make Fair Isle patterns neatly with uniform stitches when I use needles in a gauge which is small relative to the recommended gauge yarn - Fair Isle doesn't work very well in a really loose gauge, as you don't want to be able to see the threads carried behind the active stitches (the "floats") from the front of the fabric.

I wouldn't monkey with the gauge like this, on a project such as a scarf, or something in which you would want the fabric to drape gracefully.  In fact, a jacket knitted in this this tight gauge and thickness just might stand on its own without a body inside of it, like Spongebob Square Pant's pants! 

But for a hat, maybe a little boxiness won't be a bad thing...  And, best of all, if I'm wrong, I'll just have to make a second project out of that Debbie Bliss Cashmerino... ooh, guess what, it comes in lots of blues and teals!  AND, this project doesn't come up on the schedule until May, so I should have my tax return by then, hmmmm.... MWAH HAH HAHHHHH evil laughter...)

Also... I've never braved the strange world of steeks.  For this project, the cuffs are knitted in the round, and the cap is knitted flat, back and forth.  But I'm wondering if the hat wouldn't be a good project to experiment with steeks - you could make the hat piece in a tube, with the steek in the front, and then cut along the steek to make the opening for the face.  The beauty of this would be, that you wouldn't have to carry unused yarn all the way across some of the rows in order to get it back to the beginning of the next row where it is needed, as the beginning and end of all the rows line up when you knit in the round.

I will need to investigate further.  The thought of cutting into knitting seems somehow so, so wrong to me.  But, then again, I have overcome my fear of felting, so maybe it is high time to learn the steeking technique. 

The Fairest (Isle) of Them All...

Fair isle tends to fly for me, because I get so engrossed in seeing the pattern develop, I keep on knitting just a few more rows, until either the sun rises and it is time to get in the shower and go to work, or the entire weekend is gone and I still haven't cleaned the house or done the laundry...  sound familiar?

  Some people are this way with intarsia (such as my Sistah-girl, the Intarsia Queen...  NOT my favorite.  She is now working on a Mission Falls shawl kit from In Living Colour which I just couldn't face, as it has rows of tiny boxes within other tiny boxes, each with an embroidered "X'" with a French knot at its center, ALL  in different colors.  It would make me nuts.)

Some people stay up all night finishing their lace charts, or cabling their little hearts out, but for me, Fair Isle is true bliss.  I just have to make a classic Alice Starmore Fair Isle pullover some day; my Fair Isle has mostly been limited to decorative bands around the edges of things.

However, I did this vest, which is sort of both Intarsia-ish and Fair isle-ish (Brocade Dandy from The Kim Hargreaves Collection) on teeny-tiny needles when my son was just a toddler.  I recall finishing the fronts in no time at all because I just couldn't put them down (well, except when driving, or eating...). 

I extended the pattern to lengthen it for my long torso, which was a good learning experience.  Overall, this was one of the most enjoyable knitting projects I ever did, with beautifully designed knitted-on facings, etc.  I saved the graphs I created, as I want to make this vest again in pale blue and cream, sort of like Wedgewood china.  I even have the yarn and tiny matching cameo buttons stored away in my stash (well, the remainder of my stash, consisting of items I can't seem to bear to sell on eBay).

So, now I have to hide the Baltic Cuffs and Cap yarn and the swatch away so that I don't get tempted to just cast on. 

Swatchy Catch-Up

Here are some swatches for the first three KOTOTW projects (I'm waiting for the new yarn to come for the fourth, the St. Petersburg Camisole, so I can re-swatch and test the against-the-skin-wearability factor of my second yarn choice):

The Northern Lights Cardigan:

 

The yarn is Valley Yarns Sheffield; I love how it feels so soft and "kushelig" (a German word which seems to combine cushy, cuddly, soft and luxurious).  The bottom of the sweater is knitted in an easy-peasy 4-row pattern that creates a great waffly texture (note to self - save pattern to use for manly scarf).  I even sewed on my little pearly aqua beads to see if I liked them.  I decided that there was too much tan in the swatch I made, so I'm going to do the colorway instead as shown on the right, with cream replacing some of the tan, and with  a different shade of yarn under the beads to make them more noticeable.

Copenhagen Royal Shawl:

I neglected to put my reading glasses on when looking for size 8 double-pointed needles, and misread the packaging, thus knitting my first swatch on size 6 needles by mistake.  (Anyone want a teeny-tiny square?  This just isn't my week for gauge, evidently...).  Eventually I found both readers and size 8 needles, and learned to my relief that Lion Brand LB Collection 100% Superwash Merino works perfectly for this project; this square blocks to exactly 7".

As you will see if you look closely, however, my yarnovers on each side of the  row of knit stitches running diagonally to each corner are not symmetrical.  See how the line of k1's has tiny holes on one side, and big holes on the other?  This square is knit on 4 needles, and you start each needle with a yarnover on alternate rows, which I appear to be pulling more tightly than the yarnover before the k1 at the end of each needle.  I'll have to experiment and see if I can get these yo's more even.  (I'm no Rainey Sister, that's for sure!)  I think I'll try to make a square with the yo, k1, yo's right in the middle of each needle - that would be weird to do, but entertaining to try.

(Or, maybe I could stop being so ^*()&&)&% picky and just admire the square for the beautiful, graceful little thing it is, and accept my knitting imperfections.  God bless you, Steven Berg, for reminding us that there are "no mistakes - only variations!")  

The Princess Bride Mittens

I actually knitted this swatch in the round, because the mittens are knit in the round, and my gauge in the round on stockinette stitch is usually a bit different than when I knit flat.  I think this is because there are no purl rows, and I purl a bit looser than I knit. 

Also, on every other row of this fair-isle pattern, there are three colors being interchanged, so this will make for a really thick and warm fabric caused by the multiple layers of floats of unused yarn behind the stitches (again, YAY!!! happy news for freezing Minnesotan fingers). 

My sister tells me there is such a thing as silk glove liners, that you can actuall wear INSIDE mittens.  And maybe, just maybe, you might still be able to feel your fingers at the end of a half-hour dog walk...

Santa, if you happen to be listening (or reading) along, I know what one person's sister might like for Xmas...

The yarn, Filatura di Crosa Maxime, is the original yarn called for in the pattern, and it is soft as a whisper and springy to knit with.  The gauge on this swatch worked out perfectly.  And again, these mittens are made in blissful Fair Isle, so I will be exceedingly happy to get knitting on these!

In Other News...

Happy Birthday this Friday to my knitting sister Susan (for whom something special is coming in the mail, WHEEEE!!!!!!)

And the Winners Are...

The deadline for entering the Princess Bride DVD giveaway was midnight last night, so it is time to announce the winners! 

And those winners are:

 - Bertha Mallard, and

 - Sara Wutzke!

Woo Hooo!!!!!  If you dahhhlinks could please send me your snail mail addresses to maryp55124@yahoo.com, I will send you your Princess Bride DVDs without delay!  (Well, I'm still in my jammies, so I suppose I should change out of my bathrobe and shower first... but without MUCH delay).

Here, all in one place, is a list of our favorite romantic comedies!  Considering it snowed in Minnesota last night, I will be using this when I go to NetFlix during all those cozy knitting evenings coming up over the next few months!

Romantic Comedies:

A Walk in the Clouds
Adam's Rib (or any Hepburn/Tracy Movie)
An Affair to Remember
Barefoot in the Park
Bridget Jones's Diary
Bringing Up Baby (or any Cary Grant Rom-Com)
Fifty First Dates
Force of Nature
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
He's Just Not That Into You
Notting Hill
Pretty Woman
Return to Me
Singing in the Rain
Sleepless in Seattle
Stardust
Sweet Home Alabama
That Old Feeling
The Notebook
The Runaway Bride
The Way We Were
To Have & Have Not
Up
When Harry Met Sally
You've Got Mail

Other Really Good News!

Guess who's blog is mentioned in the Holiday edition of Vogue Knitting - mine!

There is a little article in the "Whats New - News" section in front with a picture of Knitting on Top of the World -- see?!

I am so thrilled - how cool is that??? I'm hoping that this brings a lot more visitors along, and that some of them will knit along with me on some of the projects!

I received my subscription copy in the mail a few days ago; I believe the issue hits newsstands on Tuesday, October 13 - and it also contains a really beautiful and glamorous tunic designed by Nicky, with a sinuous cable that snakes across the front and around an asymmetrical neckline. 

BTW, this also marks the 22nd anniversary of Vogue Knitting's Holiday 1987 edition, in which (strange but true!) I also was mentioned, this time for my design for a little boy's sweater:

When I was 25 years old, I sent off some design ideas to Vogue Knitting; I had made some graphs with colored pencils showing this little pair of dinosaurs, one chasing and biting the other's tail (see, the graph-paper-colored-pencil obsession again!!).  To my utter shock, they accepted my design idea, and suggested reproducing the picture multiple times, in stripes, in mirror-reverse, with tiny rows of stockinette between each row.  (Gulp - that's a lotta intarsia, not my favorite I will admit...)

I remember going to my first designer's meeting, and feeling quite intimidated; the offices were in Greenwich Village, and the women there looked really chic and had great shoes and haircuts.  However, the editor at that time, Lola Ehrlich, made me feel at home and treated me like a fully-fledged designer.  Although I enjoyed the briefing on the next edition's "stories," none of the design ideas I sent in were accepted.  And then I moved to San Francisco, and eventually went to law school, and knitting took a back seat to work, and to the rest of my life. 

However, I've never forgotten the thrill of having that pattern published - it was literally a lifetime goal of mine.  I used to get old hard-bound copies of Vogue Knitting and McCalls Needlework & Crafts out of our hometown library, and paged through them endlessly, trying my hand at needlepoint, quilting, cross-stitch, and crochet.  But knitting was my true favorite, then and now.  (other lifetime goals:  Publish a book; everlasting love; Academy Award; financial security.  Oh well, one out of five is a start!!)

I can hardly describe how happy and excited I feel, to see this blog mentioned in VK; it feels really wonderful to be connected to the knitting world at large again, like I've come full circle, back to where I belong, after a VERY long detour!

Have a great weekend, everybody!  I'll be posting again in a few days to continue our tour through the KOTOTW patterns! 

The Princess Bride - and Her Mittens!

Princess Bride - the Mittens

When I first paged through my copy of Knitting On Top of the World by Nicky Epstein (the beloved knitwear designer and my new BFF!!!), the first project that really caught my eye was these mittens.  I'm not sure why; maybe it's because here in Minnesota, mittens are a necessity for at least half the year (OK, I'm exaggerating, but not by much!) 

As these are knitted in fair isle, the extra thickness of the yarn carried behind the stitches will give them extra thickness and cozy warmth.  (Not to mention, they will certainly lend a new degree of elegance to events such as taking the dachshunds for a walk!)

Even my sister Susan is going to make these glorious mittens, and she lives in the San Francisco area, where there is not, in fact, much snow.  Or any snow at all.  Although, to be fair, Susan will encounter some very cold weather when she visits her son Eric, who just started college at Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

May I just mention that Worcester, Massachusetts, is not very far at all from Northampton, Massachusetts, the home of Webs. www.yarn.com???  I'm guessing she might have to make time for a little side trip, and bring an empty suitcase to fill with yarn!  I think I may need to visit my nephew soon, being a good and loving aunt and all ;)

(Oh yeah, my yarn needs for the next 4 years are sort of handled already... ahem.)

Another thing that made these mittens really special for me, besides their lovely pattern and ruffle and overall charm, is that they are made in my one of my all-time favorite color schemes (remember my bouquet from about 10 posts ago?) 

 

See what I mean?  My favorite colors, EXACTLY (no wonder this bouquet caught my eye!)

I just couldn't help but decide to make these in the original yarns, Filatura di Crosa's Maxime and New Smoking.   If you would like to make these mittens and are having trouble finding the yarn at your LYS, my heroine Nancy Lulli at Royal Yarns can set you up with the yarn you'll need to make your pair identical to the mittens in the book - www.royalyarns.com.   I was able to find so many of the yarns for projects in KOTOTW at Royal Yarns, and Nancy offers impeccable service, great pricing, and free shipping for orders over $100.00! 

But the final reason I find these mittens irresistible, is that they share the name of one of my favorite movies of all time, The Princess Bride, which came out in 1987.  I remember watching this movie again and again once it came out on VHS video (yes, prior to the days of the DVD!), until I could recite portions of it from heart!  I loved the humor, the romance, the costumes, the story... so many favorite actors, so many lines that still crack me up to this day ("That word... I do not think it means what you think it means..." the six-fingered man... the ROUS's (rodents of unusual size) that inhabited the Fire Swamp; "Good luck storming the castle! . . . that beautiful, filigreed silver crown Robin Wright Penn wears with that pale blue gown...) sigh.

This movie is also special to me, because it played a small but crucial part in my own life story.  When I went to law school in California, one of my best friends was Robert Ward (or "Wardo"), who showed up three days late, in army fatigues, because his commander thought it would be a good joke to send him on field maneuvers just to make him late to law school.

 Wardo was a gifted raconteur, and told great stories about his army days.  His best friend in the army had been a guy named Alex.  For three years of law school, I heard stories about the famed Alex, and his escapades, his inability to resist a dare, his unflappable nature; but I didn't meet the man himself until the very last day of law school, when I walked out of my final exam and met him at a party being thrown by alumni for graduating students.  He was deeply tanned (from Desert Storm), had blue eyes, and was shy and seemed really sweet.  I immediately had a crush on him, but alas, he was married.

Fast forward 6 months.  It is New Year's Eve, 1992 - I'm throwing a bachelor's party in my apartment for Wardo, who is getting married to Melissa on New Year's Day.  

I jumped out of the cake - and there was Alex!

(Kidding.  Really.)

Actually, I was helping a friend pour champagne into flutes, preparing for the traditional toast to the New Year, and in walked Alex!  (Wardo, before he became too inebriated to speak clearly, whispered in my ear that Alex's divorce was final in 2 days...) 

So, even though Alex was stationed in Kansas, and I was working in San Francisco at that time, I was desperate to figure out some way to get him to notice me, some excuse for him to have to contact me again.

We started discussing movies, which led me to mention The Princess Bride, and he said he LOVED that movie!  I realized that I had a copy of the book by William Goldman, found it and offered to lend it to him; the story in the book is a bit different than the movie, but equally wonderful.  Alex promised he would mail it back, and we exchanged phone numbers... and to make a long story short, we eventually we got married, and had our wonderful son, Nathan. 

Alex and I are no longer married; life doesn't always work out "happily ever after," but we do have one of the most congenial divorces I've ever seen.  We get along pretty well, live near to each other so that our son can go back and forth between our houses easily, and do our best to raise our boy together. 

That is just what life is like; never what you expected, but sometimes better, in a way.  When I look at my Nathan, and all he has brought to my life, I say a little prayer of thanks to The Princess Bride, and William Goldman.

So, since this movie brought some wonderful things into my life... without further ado, it is time for --

ANOTHER GIVEAWAY!!!!

Are you ready?  I am giving away two (2) copies of the movie, The Princess Bride, (new, unopened DVD's), so this giveaway will have two winners.  To be eligible to win, all you have to do to enter this contest, is to make a comment to this blog in which you answer the question: 

"What is your favorite romantic comedy?"

I am a huge movie (and book) buff; I give you fair warning that not ALL the giveaway questions, or giveaways themselves, are going to be yarny, or even yarn-related! Like Leslie Gore sang in the 60's, "It's my bloggie, I can cry if I want to, cry if I want to, do-giveaways-for-things-other-than-yarn if I want to, ..."  (OK, I may have gotten the words wrong somewhere in there. . .)  

I will take all comments that come in between now and midnight Central Standard Time on Friday, October 9, 2009, number them in order, and then use a random number generator to pick two separate winners, each of whom will win a Princess Bride DVD of their very own, to watch while knitting, or whenever. 

(I must admit, the Princess Bride mittens might be a bit complicated to knit while watching a movie; I can do plain knitting without looking, but fair isle requires some serious concentration!) 

I hope to get a lot of entries - it will be interesting to see what your favorite rom-com films are!

* * * * *

OK, here is what is up with the rest of my knit-filled life:

See, I Really DID Run in a Marathon!  

One week and two posts ago, I told you about the "Women Run the Cities" marathon I was in last Sunday, September 27.  I thought you might like to see photographic evidence that in fact, I actually did take part!

I wasn't aware that a photographer was charged with taking pictures of all of the entrants - maybe I would have at least tried to look like I was moving.  I walked the 5K, and I wasn't exactly cruising along with blinding speed.  My sister Susan noted my thrilled expression (not unreflective of my usual attitude toward exercise), and my sister Jenny noted that my hands were in the knitting position (although I wasn't actually knitting, I was fiddling with my iPod.) 

However, Jenny's comment gave Renay the brilliant idea that next year, my knitting group, the "Twin Cities Knitties," could actually ALL walk and knit together!  We could wear matching T-shirts, and get those little hip bags to hold our yarn, and wear matching knitted headbands... ooooh the sheer geeky knittiness of it all! 

If this happens, I betcha I'll be smiling in next year's photo!

October 2 - First Thursday Knitting Night With the Twin Cities Knitties

My knitting group managed to meet on our traditional first Thursday of the month; there doesn't ever seem to be a night when we all can make it, but we try to find a night when a majority of us can.  The months are flipping by so fast lately, that this one sort of sprung up on me.

I showed off Maddie's little lavender ensemble (see last post), and here's what everyone else is working on:

Renay showed us a beautiful shawl she'd just completed, which looked amazingly right with her green top; in front of her is yet another stack of chemo hats for a project I'll tell you all about really soon.

Kristen, our newbie just-learned-how-to knitter is modelling her beautiful garter stitch scarf.  It is hard to see in this photo, but the blue really sets off her eyes.  Note the rainy windows -- we had a big rainstorm that night, but it didn't dissuade us from a cozy night of knitting in our usual Starbuck's. 

Ann of the beautiful smile is working on a really cute baby hat from a Dale of Norway pattern; it will be finished on top with a T-shaped seam, with little pom-poms at each point. 

Unfortunately, I caught Kim mid-blink, but I did manage to catch her new Knit Picks Harmony Wood Options wooden interchangeable needle set.  I work with Kim's husband, John, so she had me innocently drop him a "hint" email that she really, really wanted these needles for her birthday (I gave him the website link and everything).  John asked Kim asked her the day before her birthday, "You don't still want those needles, do you?"

To which she replied, "Yes, I do." 

He said, "Well, I won't be able to get them here that quickly."

To which she replied, "Yes, you will, if you have them sent overnight."

Which he did! 

Therefore, John wins the prize for "Twin Cities Knitties Wonder-Husband of the Month!"

 * * * * *

Have a great week, everybody!  Don't forget to send me a comment and let me know what your favorite romantic comedy is!

xoxoxo Mar