Daebee noticed that the Part 3 instructions I posted for Esmerelda last week started with the wrong side (right instead of left).  I just corrected them, including switching the stitch counts around, because those were correct.  See this post for the updated instructions.  Since I’m not knitting the shrug as I’m designing it, and I’m used to designing things bottom-up instead of top-down, I got confused about which side you end up on after finishing a WS row.  Sorry about that!

In other news, I went to Sheetal’s wedding over the weekend.  It was lots of fun, and she looked amazing.  The only bad part was that it was an outdoor wedding and right as she she started down the isle, the sky opened up and dumped profuse amounts of rain down on us, and continued to do so throughout the ceremony.  R and I found shelter under a tree just behind the seating area, where we kept mostly dry and still had a decent view.  There was a lovely lunch afterwards, and then a nice gap during which Spinnity and I (and our spouses) walked to a LYS (where I picked up 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden in a creamy color) and then I got to take a nap (because I was up until 3am the night before finishing knitting Sheetal’s stole for her evening outfit) before speeches, dinner, and dancing in the evening.  It was a super quick weekend, with lots of time spent on planes and in airports (our flight last night was delayed 1 1/2 hours so we spent about 5 hours in Dallas), but it was definitely worth the trip!  I’ll have to share some photos of the wedding, and of Italy… soon, I promise!

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Big apologies to those of you out there who have been patiently waiting for the next installment! Here it is! You can also find it on the Ravelry Fiber Fiends group discussion page, along with photos of other people’s shrugs-in-progress. You can find Esmerelda on Ravelry here.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Esmerelda, it’s a top-down shrug I’m designing as a knit-a-long for the Fiber Fiends Ravelry group, and I’m also posting the installments here on my blog. This is the third knitting installment, which involves putting the sleeve stitches on holders and working the back section.  You can find yarn requirements here, the first knitting installment here, and the second installment here.

Back
Work 9 (11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 18) left front sts in stockinette stitch. Place next 20 (28, 27, 36, 34, 43, 42) sts on holder for left sleeve. Use backward loop method to cast on 5 sts. Work 39 (49, 51, 59, 63, 70, 73) back sts in stockinette stitch. Place next 20 (28, 27, 36, 34, 43, 42) sts on holder for right sleeve. Use backward loop method to cast on 5 sts. Work remaining 8 (12, 11, 15, 14, 18, 17) sts in stockinette stitch. 66 (82, 84, 98, 102, 116, 118) sts on the needles. Work in stockinette stitch for 3.5” / 9 cm, or until piece measures 10 (10.5, 11, 11.5, 12, 12.5, 13)” / 25.5 (26.5, 28, 29, 30.5, 32, 33) cm.

The sleeves will be up next!

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I do love Springtime in California…  I hope you’re feeling the effects of Spring wherever you are.  I’d like to share with you my latest published design, from the Spring Twist Collective, Colette (Ravelry Link)…

Photo copyright Jamie Dixon

Photo copyright Jamie Dixon

Photo copyright Jamie Dixon

Photo copyright Jamie Dixon

Photo copyright Jamie Dixon

Colette is a seamless top-down raglan sweater, worked in one piece.  The sleeve stitches are put on stitch holders while you work the body and the sleeves are worked last.  The empire waist and lower body ribbing lengthens the torso.  Horseshoe lace emphasizes the empire waist and trails down the center of the short sleeves.  A wide boat neck accentuates the neck, and is trimmed in 3 x 2 ribbing, matching the lower body.  Waist and bust shaping occurs at both sides of the garment, hugging curves, providing a flattering elegant look.

In case you’re curious, you can see a few photos of what I and my mannequin look like wearing the sweater here.

The Design Process

When I first roughly sketched this garment, I knew I wanted lace or a cable defining the empire waist, the same lace or cable down the sleeves, ribbing on the lower body, and stockinette stitch on the upper body.  I didn’t know what kind of ribbing I wanted, or what lace or cable pattern I wanted to use.  You can see my very rough sketch below.

After this sketch, I poured through stitch dictionaries looking for the right stitch pattern to work with the concept. I decided to go with a lace pattern instead of a cable pattern, because lace would provide more of a light spring garment than a heavier cable. After looking through several stitch dictionaries, I settled on Horseshoe Lace. Then I thought about what ribbing I wanted to use. I didn’t want to go with 2 x 2 ribbing, because I thought it would be too plain, so I decided to go with 3 x 2 ribbing. Then I thought about what type of yarn would work well for the sweater. I decided to swatch with Tahki Sierra (62% silk, 30% linen, 8% nylon), because I envisioned a soft drapey garment.

After I swatched, I drew more detailed sketches with a front view (above) and side view (below), so I could get a better idea of what the completed garment would look like with the Horseshoe Lace stitch pattern.

After the piece was accepted into the Twist Collective Spring Issue, I spoke with Kate Gilbert about what yarn to use, and we decided on Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo (50% Wool, 50% Bamboo; 118 yds/108 m per 50 g skein) in Bay Blue, because it would hold the ribbing better than a silk or linen yarn like the one I swatched in. For more yarn choice options, see the Swatch It article by Clara Parkes from the same issue, in which Clara talks about several different yarns she used to swatch for Colette, including Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy (34% hemp, 41% cotton, 25% modal).

P.S.  I’m off to Italy in about 2 hours for the next 12 days for a good friend’s wedding, so if I’m a bit slow to respond to any emails, that’s why.  I will have intermittent email access, but I’m not sure I’ll have it every day.  I’m going to miss my doggies!  But they’ll be in good hands, with wonderful dog/house sitters.

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I spent a good while yesterday afternoon sifting through the plums, Asian pears, and nectarines on the trees in my back yard, thinning them out so there aren’t any fruit closer than 6″ to each other on any given branch.  It seemed like it took forever.  At some point, I got really hot, and rolled up the sleeves of my sweater.  I hope I didn’t sunburn my arms.  I think it was probably like 75 degrees out.  I’m always cold, especially at work, so I’m still wearing sweaters.  I took my sweater off when I came inside, where it’s cooler than it was outside.  The thermostat said it was 73.  Anyhow, I’m hoping that this year, since I remembered by accident to thin my fruits early, that they will be even better than last year (if I remember to pick them before the squirrels get them all and if my parents don’t come to visit 2-3 weeks before they’re ripe and I ask my mom if she can go check on the fruit and she instead go picks it all — that’s what happened last year with the plums AND the Asian pears and the squirrels have gotten our nectarines 2/4 years, and we were on our honeymoon 1 year so we missed them that year too)!  The trees are all a year more mature too, so that must help.  I have to say, the nectarine tree has really sever peach leaf curl this year, but I don’t know if that hurts fruit production.  It had a whole bunch of pea to golf ball sized fruits on it.  The plum tree was the worst though, since it’s like 10 feet tall, and had by FAR the most fruit.  I stood there for a LONG time, looking up, trying to figure out which branch to bend down next, and inspect, and trim the fruit off of.

This all came about because the fruit trees are fenced off from the dogs, at the far end of our (small) backyard, and I saw some rotting lemons on their side of the fence, and I decided to clean them up, so I opened the gate and squeezed by the plum tree to get to the rotting lemons, and what did I see?  TONS of fruit, WAY too much fruit.  I think I must have thrown away close to 100 plums.  And we planted this tree I think last year?  It was a pretty big tree when we planted it, but still.  There’s this awesome nursery up in Portola Valley that has great fruit trees, Al’s Nursery.  We’ve gotten all 6 of our backyard fruit trees from there (there’s also the ancient 7th lemon tree that came with the house), and they’re all awesome (except for the peach leaf curl, but that’s because our neighbor’s sprinklers rain over the fence on our trees… I’ve been meaning to go over there and have a chat with them…).

Anyhow… I was pleasantly surprised that I had the energy to stand out there for as long as I did and prune fruit.  On Monday I was SO exhausted I wanted to fall asleep at 7:30pm, and I climbed into bed for an hour.  I guess that’s how things go…   More spoons yesterday.  For those of you who haven’t read The Spoon Theory, I had it on my desktop to read forever, and totally forgot about it, because I didn’t use my computer for a long time, because my back hurt too much, and then Stephanie (who writes Handknit Heroes) told me about it recently and I looked it up and finally read it.  It’s a really great way to explain chronic pain/illness.  I have so many more thoughts I’d like to share about chronic pain and the possibilities for coping with it (mostly things I’ve tried and haven’t been able to stick with), but the hardest thing for me is finding a balance between living my life and sheltering myself, and I have to get off of the computer…

P.S.  I’m working on a post about a sweater design, and the design process, and I hope to share it with you at some point in the near-ish future, when I’ve had the time to get all the pieces together…

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Today I’m reviewing Donna Druchunas‘ new book, Ethnic Knitting Exploration, for her blog tour.

Ethnic Knitting Exploration is a great book, which includes not only ethnic history, stitch patterns, and sample projects, but details on finishing techniques, knitting techniques, like magic loop and knitting on 2 circulars, and other helpful and useful tips throughout. However, a book that concentrates on 2 out of 3 countries with colorwork motifs would have really benefited by some color sketches or photos. You really have to use your imagination to bring color into the black and white sketches and photographs of swatches.  The only color in the book is on the cover.  One thing to consider on this issue, however, is that with Ravelry, we might be able to see sample projects in all kinds of colors to give us inspiration based on the projects in Donna’s book.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

The book starts off with a short chapter describing the three sweater construction techniques used in the book: raglan, yoke, and saddle-shoulder. It then has a chapter on techniques. Next, it has three chapters focusing on three countries and each of the three techniques. It finishes off with a chapter on cardigans.

The book has 9 projects with loose outlines of directions that give you the freedom to customize your project, and and black and white sketch to spark the imagination. Black and white photographs of swatches of sample stitch patterns used in the projects are shown, but in two out of the three country chapters, these were colorwork photographs photographed in black and white and colorwork sweaters sketched in black and white, so you have to use your imagination to fill in the colors.  Other than that, it really is a fantastic book for someone who has a basic knowledge of knitting and is interested in learning about different construction techniques and ethnic influences. It’s a great foundation for exploring how to create your own raglan or yoke sweater with colorwork patterns from Lithuania, Iceland, or beyond, or your own Aran saddle shoulder sweater with cables from Ireland or beyond.  Think of it like a choose your own sweater book, kind of like the old choose your own adventure books I used to read as a kid.  You choose your own colorwork or cable patterns, and the book tells you how to incorporate them into the sweater construction of your choice.  The book also includes pattern outlines for colorwork fingerless gloves, a colorwork capelet, and an Aran poncho.

Each project includes details on yarn choice, appropriate needle type and sizes required, additional notions/supplies, a description of how to select stitch patterns and measure gauge, how to measure size (the book also includes standard sizes from the Craft Yarn Council of America in case you’re knitting for someone else), a diagram with measurements and abbreviated instructions, a planning worksheet of measurements and stitch counts to fill out, and a step-by-step project sheet of instructions with blanks that correspond to the measurements and stitch counts that were filled out in the worksheet.

Each of the three chapters about the three countries starts off with brief introduction of the history of knitting in that country, followed by chapter highlights, including skills, techniques, and “garment styling,” which describes the construction techniques included in that chapter. Next comes a discussion of techniques, followed by a sampling of pattern stitches representative of that culture. After that, a smaller project is presented, followed by several sweater outlines. Throughout the chapters on each country, there are blurbs about the culture. The Lithuanian chapter focuses on raglan construction and colorwork, the Icelandic chapter focuses on yoke construction and colorwork, while the chapter on Ireland goes into Aran knitting and saddle-shoulder construction.

The projects for colorwork sweaters are shown worked in the round, while the Aran sweaters are worked flat, although two pages are written up on knitting Arans in the round, and the last chapter discusses cardigans and how to choose when to steek, when to work the body back-and-forth in one piece, and when to work the body in pieces and sew them together.  All in all, I think it’s a fantastic book for someone with a little imagination.  And don’t all of us knitters have a little imagination?

I asked Donna why she chose to focus on the three countries in her book.  She chose Lithuania largely because of her Lithuanian heritage. Her other reasoning for choosing these countries was that:

“I wanted to focus on shoulder shaping (yoke, raglan, saddle), and also because I love Aran sweaters and I love making the Icelandic yoke sweaters — with the yoke decreasing and suddenly, presto!, you’re done…”

It’s a long blog tour, and I’m near the end.  I had hoped to read the other entries before writing my own, but my back didn’t hold up for it, so I hope I’m not repeating the others, if you’ve read them.  If you’re curious to read them, you can find a complete list on Donna’s blog here.

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I just wanted to say hi, I’m alive!

The night Stitches opened I got hit with the nasty flu that’s going around, and it wiped me out for about 3 weeks.  I’ve had some pretty hefty migraines since then, and I had a nerve block procedure on April 1st.  I don’t really want to talk about that, because it makes me quite upset.  After my procedure (during which I had a very nasty migraine) the doctor told me something to the effect that the injection he performed could in no way affect the area where my pain is (even though my pain is VERY localized and has not changed location at all in the past year, and I showed him where my pain was before the procedure).

SO, I’ve been in a lot more pain since the procedure, and when I went to my follow-up appointment to discuss my condition with my doctor (who isn’t the one who performed the procedure) my husband and I took time off work (I had to take 3 days off work to recover from the procedure and I had to take vacation since I don’t have any sick time right now, and R had to take 4 hours off work to pick me up because the doctor performing the procedure was running late and they wouldn’t tell him when I would be ready so they kept telling him to come back in an hour) and drove half an hour to the clinic and we argued the entire trip there about how I was going to discuss the whole situation with my doctor without upsetting her or getting too upset myself, because my goal is for them to help me feel better, not to complain or get in an argument, so we went to the receptionist and she said that the doctor wasn’t in the clinic and that they didn’t have any appointments for me in their computer system and I really felt like that trip to my follow-up appointment really exemplifies the health aspect of my life this year.

Other things in life are good.  Don’t get me wrong.  If I didn’t have the other things in life, I don’t know where I’d be right now.  It just seems like every time I make some progress in my health, something else goes wrong.  However, because at the beginning of the year I was on that raw food diet, we signed up for the same vegetable box that Spinnity gets, and it started 4 weeks ago.  Since it started, I decided that I would try to cook, so even though I haven’t been feeling very well, I have started cooking again.  AND, I have even gone grocery shopping a few times!  That may not seem like much to any of you, but I hadn’t been grocery shopping in about 9 months because of my back.  And although since my procedure I haven’t been feeling very well, I still have been cooking some, because it makes me feel productive, and it doesn’t seem to give me migraines, like sitting in front of the computer does.  Because my pain is nerve pain, my doctor told me that I’m not injuring myself when I do things, I’m just causing myself pain, so if I can get past the pain, I should be able to do more things.  Maybe cooking is a path to being able to do more, because I don’t mind using my stubbornness and perseverance to create an Enchanted Broccoli Forest (scroll down to bottom for recipe).

By the way, someone notified me that the Childs size of the Oak Bark Cabled Hat (Ravelry Link) was missing some of the written directions, and when going over the pattern I noticed a few other minor errata.  If you would like a new copy, please email me with the paypal email address you purchased the pattern with, or if you purchased the pattern at Stitches, if you have your receipt number, please email me and include your receipt number in your email.  Thanks!  If you purchased the pattern through Ravelry, you should have been sent a link to the updated copy, waiting for you to download.

P.S. This past weekend R and I went to Napa to celebrate having been together for 5 years. I forgot my camera at the B & B for most of the weekend, but I did take a few photos that I might share some day… The wine above is some of the first wine I’ve been able to drink in almost a year, because of my health, and I’m certainly glad about that! =)

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One more thing!  Here’s a $2 off coupon for the market!  Hope to see you there in booth 832!

Also, I finally put together the pattern for my Burana Jacket, so if you want a hard copy, stop by and pick one up, and if you want a pdf, you can buy one here now!  I’ll get the Ravelry download ready next week. You can queue it on Ravelry here.

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What a perfect thing to knit for Vestuary (Knitting vests in February) (Ravelry link) (Flickr Group)!  Not much time left, though!

My Textured Argyle and Diamond Vests just came out in the Knotions magazine Spring ‘09 issue yesterday! You can find the vests on Ravelry here. I thought I’d share some extra photos for your viewing pleasure… Some of my favorites didn’t make it into the issue.

First off, the Textured Argyle Vest knit in my Fiber Fiend Yumm, in the Into the Woods colorway (which I will have a bunch of at Stitches West, in booth 832)!

Then we have the Textured Diamond Vest, knit in Knit Picks Main Line, in the Dusty Lavender Colorway.

Project details can be found on Ravelry here for the Textured Argyle Vest and here for the Textured Diamond Vest.

P.S.  I haven’t been feeling very well lately, but I do look forward to seeing some of you at Stitches West this weekend.  Look for me in booth 832!

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I had to edit the first Esmerelda instructions a bit in order for the stitch counts to work out right for the cable pattern in this next step…  I don’t think any of you should have to rip out more than two rows to adjust to the new instructions…

Here’s the sketch again, if any of you are new, so you know what I’m talking about. I’m designing this shrug as a knit-a-long and posting the instructions here on my blog and in the Fiber Fiends Ravelry Group.

And now, for the second installment….

NEW ABBREVIATIONS
K2tog: Knit two together
Rep: Repeat
RS: Right Side
SSK: Slip, slip, knit
St: Stitch
T8B rib: Sl next 4 sts onto cable needle, hold to back of work, k1, p2, k1 from left-hand needle, then k1, p2, k1 from cable needle.
T8F rib: Sl next 4 sts onto cable needle, hold to front of work, k1, p2, k1 from left-hand needle, then k1, p2, k1 from cable needle.
WS: Wrong Side

Sizes 30 (38, 54)” / 76 (96.5, 137) cm: Next Row * K until 1 st before mkr, k2tog, k1, sl mkr, k1 ssk, rep from * once, k until 1 st before mkr, k2tog, k1, sl mkr, k to end of row, slipping mkrs as you come to them. 96 (128, 192) sts.
Size 34” / 86.5cm: Next Row: *K until 1 st before mkr, m1L, k1, sl mkr, k1 m1R, rep from * 2 times, k to end of row, slipping mkrs as you come to them. 128 sts.
Size 42” / 107 cm: Next Row: *K until 1 st before mkr, m1L, k1, sl mkr, k1 m1R, rep from * 2 times, k until 1 st before mkr, m1L, k1, sl mkr, k to end of row. 160 sts.
Size 46” / 117 cm: *K until 1 st before mkr, k2tog, k1, sl mkr, k1 ssk, k until 1 st before mkr, k2tog, k to end of row, slipping mkrs as you come to them. 160 sts.
Size 50” / 127 cm: Work one increase row. Purl 1 row. 192 sts.

All Sizes: Work rows 1-24 of Centered Cables pattern 6 (8, 8, 10, 10, 12, 12) times around shrug. See chart or instructions below.

Centered Cables (worked back and forth over 16 sts):
Row 1 (RS): K1, p2, (k2, p2) 3 times, k1.
Row 2 (WS): P1, k2, (p2, k2) 3 times, p1.
Row 3: T8B rib, T8F rib.
Row 4: As 2nd row.
5th to 14th rows: Rep 1st and 2nd rows 5 times.
Row 15: T8F rib, T8B rib.
Row 16: As 2nd row.
17th to 24th rows: Rep 1st and 2nd rows 4 times.

Expect the next instructions sometime around mid-March! =)

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While going back to work has been pretty much the same disaster it was in October, and I left today in tears, I do have something new to show you!  (Or, new to you!  I knit these two vests in September, actually, so I’ve been wearing them throughout the fall and winter, and they’ve kept me nice and warm!)  The Spring Knotions Preview is out, and while you can’t see much now, you’ll be able to see both vests from all angles on Monday when the full issue goes live.  What you can see here is a peek at the Textured Argyle Vest, knit in my Fiber Fiend Yumm, in the Into the Woods colorway.  The other vest is a variation on the theme, a Textured Diamond Vest, argyle without the lines, knit in Knit Picks Main Line, in Dusty Lavender.

I’ve always had a fascination with argyle, but I’ve never knit it because I have an aversion to intarsia. In comes the Textured Argyle Vest: the best of both worlds! It’s an argyle pattern, but it’s all texture, no intarsia! The combination of my hand-dyed yarn in the Into the Woods colorway with the argyle texture really reminds me of the forest, which I love. However, the argyle pattern is subtle, so if you want something more bold, go for the Diamond Vest, knit in Knit Picks Main Line. Both vests are knit bottom-up in the round with feminine waist shaping and overlapping square ribbed shawl collars. At the neckline and armholes, the vests are divided into three sections: left front, right front, and back, which are worked separately and then grafted together at the shoulders. They’re a quick knit and great to toss on over a crew-neck or a long-sleeved shirt.

Sizes: 28.5 (32, 35.5, 39, 42.5, 46.25, 49.75, 53.25)” to fit 30 (32, 34, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54)” bust

Gauge: 18 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches in Argyle or Diamond Texture Pattern on US8/5.0 mm needles

Uses 410 - 738 yards worsted weight yarn

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