Primula Adiri - Making Progress

I have been working steadily away on my Adiri sweater.  The pattern is pretty easy and you get into a nice rhythm. I am almost three-quarters of the way through the body up to the underarm and am into my second skein of yarn.  I am going to work the sleeves top down and in the round.

Pattern:  Adiri by Julia Trice
Yarn:  Shalimar Yarns Haven in Primula
Needles:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Iced Audrey Corvina - Finished!

I actually finished this last Saturday, but with the time it takes to dry after blocking and the fact that it is winter I couldn't get a good shot until this morning.  I've already worn it to work - it fits perfectly.  The color is really hard to get right in these photos.  This shot is pretty close, but is still a little too blue.

The close up of the shoulder is definitely too blue, but it was the best I could do, even with correcting the color.

I wanted to show how beautifully the top-down set in sleeve joins with the body of the sweater.  The instructions in Barbara Walker's book Knitting from the Top tell you to figure out how many stitches you need at the top of your sleeve and then figure out how to pick that many stitches evenly around your armhole edge.  But I don't do that.  Instead I pick up stitches evenly around the armhole - every other row, and one stitch for each bound off stitch in the underarm, and whatever I end up with is what I start out with for the size of my sleeve.  I figure that this gives me a better fit between the armhole opening and the top of the sleeve.  So far I have always ended up with more stitches for the sleeve than what the pattern calls for (typically on the order of about an inch extra), but this is fine as I like my sleeves a little roomier.

Pattern:  Corvina by Michele Wang
Yarn:  The Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted in Icey Audrey
Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Primula Adiri

I had this yarn - Shalimar Yarns Haven in Damask - hanging out in a very nice knitting bag that I picked up at Bead & Button this past year (one of my few acquisitions this past year).

As I was finishing up my Iced Audrey Corvina I decided that I would knit up the yarn in this knitting bag next.  Although I had bought this yarn for the pattern Loden, at some point I got it into my head that I had actually bought it for the pattern Adiri.  I caked up a skein and consulted the pattern to knit a gauge swatch.  The pattern called for a US size 8 needle, which sent off alarm bells in my head, as the weight is DK.  I swatched with a US 6 and made gauge.

After I finished up my Iced Audrey Corvina and had it blocking I started setting up my project page for Adiri.  I like to make sure that the yarn I am using is in my stash so I went and checked and discovered that the yarn I had swatched with wasn't, but this yarn was.

And when I stashed it I had noted that it was for the pattern Adiri.  I then also noticed that I had 5 skeins of this color and 6 skeins of the Damask (in the first photo).  The Adiri pattern called for 5 skeins for the size that I was knitting, so obviously I had intended the Damask color for something else.  A quick search on Ravelry solved the mystery and I added the Damask color to my stash and noted that it was intended for Loden.  I went to my stash and pulled out the Primula color and discovered that I had also printed out the Adiri pattern and included it in the box with the yarn.  Sometimes I think ahead, and then I forgot that I did and do things over again.  I put the Damask skeins in the box that I pulled the Primula skeins out of and caked up a skein and cast on.  I've made it through the ribbing and have started the lace and cable pattern.

It doesn't want to lay flat, so I just let it do its thing.

Pattern:  Adiri by Julia Trice
Yarn:  Shalimar Yarns Haven in Primula
Needles:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Iced Audrey Corvina - Body Done

I finished up the body, including the neck edge this morning.  I did some experimenting on this one.  I did short row shaping on the shoulders, as I always do, but I didn't do any wraps, I just turned.   I also didn't knit back across all of those short rows at the end, I figured the bind off would take care of that.  The holes where I turned are barely noticeable.  I think the next time I do this I will slip the first stitch when I turn.  When I did the neck edge I did not bind off the front neck stitches or the back neck stitches.  This resulted in my having to work across the front neck edge as I was picking up stitches for the edging so there is one more row of seed stitch there, but it is hardly noticeable and I like the fact that I could just continue with the live stitches.  Serendipitously, the central chevron panel lines up perfectly with the seed stitch.  I also started the front neck a little earlier than the pattern called for.  I didn't want a strict crew neck sweater, I like a more open neck line.

The name of this colorway is actually Icey Audrey, but for some reason I always want to call it Iced Audrey.

Pattern:  Corvina by Michele Wang
Yarn:  The Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted in Icey Audrey
Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Iced Audrey Corvinia - Making Progress

Now that I am back at work I am back to being a monogamous knitter.  I have to keep track of so many things in my job that I find myself wanting to focus on a single project from start to finish when I am at home.  I am almost to the underarm and have just finished up my second skein of yarn.  For anything heavier than fingering I actually join the old skein to the new by unspinning the yarn and respining them together.

In this case there are 4 strands making up the yarn.  I unspin them in pairs, and then respin the ends together.  I do end up with 4 ends to weave in, but they are half the thickness of the original yarn so they disappear when you weave them in - I go along diagonals.  If you do it right you cannot detect it from the front and barely notice it in the back.

Pattern:  Corvina by Michele Wang
Yarn:  The Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted in Iced Audrey
Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Iced Audrey Corvina

I got turned on to The Plucky Knitter when I knit my Honey Wheat Pullover.  I've been buying other Plucky kits but haven't knit any of them until now.  This yarn was waiting for me after I came back from visiting family over Christmas so I caked up a skein and swatched and cast on the Corvina sweater.  I haven't been working on it a great deal because I've been focusing on my Winter Dress but today I got a fair bit done.

I have modified the pattern to knit it in the round, cause that is just what I do.  And I'm going to knit the sleeves top down.  This is just before I started the Chevron Stitch pattern, a nice little knit/purl combo to break up the monotony.  There was no chart for it so I charted it up in Pattern Genius, which is an app that I'm beta testing and imported it into Knit Companion (they are by the same developer).  It took me a few minutes to remember that I had to reverse the stitches on the wrong side rows.  I charted it exactly as written first and just could not see the chevron pattern.  Then I realized what I had done and fixed the wrong side rows and there it was.

Pattern:  Corvina by Michele Wang
Yarn:  The Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted in Iced Audrey
Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Winter Dress - Finished!

I finished this up on Monday and blocked it yesterday.  Somehow when I was knitting the Autumn Dress I completely missed directions on the armhole and neck edge - type and placement of the decreases and keeping the edge stitch in reverse stockinette.  This time I followed the directions and even did the crochet edging.  I'm always a little nervous about crochet edging.  With a knit edging I know the gauge and can figure out how many stitches to pick up, but I don't know the crochet gauge so I just have to wing it.  Now I have to find the right turtleneck, leggings and boots to go with it.

Project:  Alita Dress by Adrienne Larsen from Knitter's Magazine 116, Fall 2014
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Winter Amethyst
Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Winter Dress - 5 Skeins Done

I finished up Skein 2 this afternoon.  On my Autumn Dress I switched to skein 1 when I started working the front and back separately, but on this one I continued with skein 2 after the split, working front and back at the same time by working from both ends of the skein.  I've not done this very often, just because you have to be careful to avoid twisting, but with gradiant yarns in any kind of garment other than a shawl I think it is the easiest way to make sure that you are using it evenly without having to weigh it.

Project:  Alita Dress by Adrienne Larsen from Knitter's Magazine 116, Fall 2014
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Winter Amethyst
Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Winter Dress - 3 & 4 Skeins Done

I finished up skein 4 mid-week, and finished up skein 3 this morning (which may seem strange until you remember that I started with skein 6, so I'm working backwards through the set).  I like the way that the striping changes depending upon how many stitches are in the rows.  This is a feature of all gradiance and striping yarns and there has been a lot of work lately on controlling that with careful pattern selection, but I have no desire to control anything and I like letting the yarn express itself.

Now I'm done with the lace.  The bodice tends to go pretty quickly.  I'm thinking of using one of the sets that I bought for Peter Pan for my Spring Dress.  The Tinkerbell colorway reminds me of Spring.  If I do, I will start with the green.

Project:  Alita Dress by Adrienne Larsen from Knitter's Magazine 116, Fall 2014
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Winter Amethyst
Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Lilac Pullover - Finished!

This morning I sewed the sleeves to the body.  It is the only bit of finishing that I have to do on this pullover as everything is knit in the round.  Maybe on the next one I'll try knitting the sleeves from the top down.  I've been toying with the idea for the last two pullovers.  I've only done top down set in sleeves a few times, but I really like how they come out - when they are done correctly.  The only reason I haven't done that on this top is the lace patterning on the sleeve.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Lilac Pullover - Second Sleeve Done

Look, it's a lace bolster!  Actually, of course, it is the second sleeve of my Lilac Pullover.  This set up works great to block lace sleeves knit in the round.  It is almost dry. It was just a little bit damp on the underside, so I rolled it over. 

I picked this up again on New Year's Eve to knit while we watched a couple of movies.  We started out with Galaxy Quest, which we both love and think is a great homage to the genre, and finished out the old year with This Island Earth.  This is an unusual film from 1955.  The aliens recruit scientists by sending them a catalog with all sorts of cool parts that enables them to build a communicator.  What a great recruitment technique.  Two scientists, one of whom is a woman, end up going to the alien planet, which is in the process of being destroyed in an interplanetary war.  There is the usual bit about the aliens wanting to come live on Earth, peacefully, if possible, but if not...well, there are ways of making us compliant.  There is also the requisite alien monster - called a mutant - genetically engineered to be a worker.  The aliens all die, but our intrepid scientists survive and return to Earth with the help of the last surviving alien, a fellow scientist who does not believe in conquest.  Not your typical 1950s sci fi movie plot line.

I'll get the sweater assembled this weekend.


Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Winter Dress - 2 skeins done

I finished up skein 5 last night and started skein 4.  There have been enough decreases (5 sets, with 16 stitches decreased on each set) that the rows are going faster.  So far the color changes have been pretty subtle, but I think they will start to get a little more dramatic from here.

Project:  Alita Dress by Adrienne Larsen from Knitter's Magazine 116, Fall 2014
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Winter Amethyst
Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm)