Mission Accomplished!

NaKniSweMo, I owned you this year. I picked the biggest, most cabley sweater I could find and knit the heck out of it. Don't believe me? Bam! Taken at 11:30 pm on November 30:


That's right. Dad's Aran is as done as the turkey on Thursday. Or maybe the stuffing which was gone after about 15 minutes. Seriously, for some reason no matter how much my dad makes, there's never any leftovers of stuffing to go along with the leftover potatoes and turkey and pie the next day. It's some seriously delicious stuffing (my mouth is now watering and I've just eaten lunch, go figure).

Now. You may notice if you look carefully that something seems a little off with the seams on the sleeves (how's that for alliteration?) That would be because at 11:30 when I was attaching the sleeves, I somehow managed to attach them upside down so the increases run along the top of the arm to the shoulder. Ooops. Naturally, it being 11:30 at night, I did what any sensible person would do and I took this picture and said in my best Scarlett O'Hara voice "I don't want to think about that now, I'll think about it tomorrow." So I put it away to deal with this evening when I get home. I'm still quite pleased with the sweater. It's gigantic, so I'm fairly certain that despite being worsted weight yarn, it met the requisite 50,000+ stitches for NaKniSweMo. I may actually unravel the bottom and shorten it a bit since Dad's fairly short and the torso on this bad boy is way too long.

All told I probably used 8.5 skeins of the yarn so with the unravelling I could've gotten away with only 8 skeins, but definitely would not have finished before the deadline.

Pattern: Aran Sweater by Lion Brand
Yarn: Bartlett Yarn Fisherman 2-ply
Needle: US 6 and US 8
Modifications: Body and sleeves knit in the round for almost no seaming (given my issues with the sleeves this was probably a very smart move on my part!) Instead of a simple ribbed neckband, I opted to double the length of the neckband and tack it down on the reverse for a more finished look. I think it makes it look much neater and more professional. ;)

Reflections on NaKniSweMo
This was an awesome experience. Definitely gave me great motivation to get a massive project like this done in a timely manner. I doubt I would've been able to finish the sweater in time for Christmas if I hadn't participated. Though I set a lot of goals and deadlines for myself this year and met quite a few of them, it seems like all the big projects tended to trip me up (see: Juno Regina, Venezia, etc.) This definitely gave me an ego boost in the FO department.

As an added bonus, because it was knit in the round, the sheer size of this knit meant that I couldn't take it on my commute which allowed me to work on other smaller projects. I think this contributed to the ease with which I could pick up the sweater when I got home since I wasn't sick to death of it. So I also have a bunch of projects that I've either finished or made good progress on while I was working on the sweater. All in all, I'm a big fan of NaKniSweMo.

NaKniSweMo kick off

This weekend, November 1st, marked the start of National Knit a Sweater Month and I decided to participate since one of my goals this year was to knit a gift sweater for Dad. He's always asking for Aran sweaters and I picked one up for him when I was in Scotland (made in Ireland, but Scotland was more convenient for me at the time). But I figured making him one would be a nice use of my skills and so I picked up some nice sheepy yarn aran weight yarn at Rhinebeck from Wild Apple Farm to make him a Christmas gift sweater. I wasn't in the mood to design my own Aran and I wasn't wild about the cables used in a lot of the books I have so I wound up using a free pattern from Lion Brand. I started a different one of their arans many moons ago that is currently my oldest UFO, but I think this project will be different for several reasons (the NaKniSweMo deadline being one of them).



I cast on this past Saturday and spent part of the (rather temperate) afternoon knitting in Ft. Tryon Park. Can't beat sitting in the sun on a park bench looking out at scenery like this:



I managed to finish the waist band ribbing and start the cable pattern which gave me the opportunity to break out one of my favorite recent acquisitions, these awesome stitch markers I got from Shameka in the Sit'n'Knit neckwarmer swap.



On Sunday while I was knitting during the morning political shows, whenever Rick Davis or that shrill harpy Monica Crowley said something irritating (which was most of the time) I just looked down at those little markers dangling from my work and it made me super happy.

I've finished up one skein so far and have almost 7 inches completed. I'm a little concerned about having enough yardage, especially since the back is knit in beaded rib rather than stockinette and it seems to be using up a considerable amount of yarn. I think it's probably too late to switch to stockinette at this point, but on the plus side I think it'll give the sweater a lot more give which will make it easier for Dad to wear it with lots of layers underneath at Giants games.

In other news, the Drops Jacket is all knit up but I'm not so pleased about the neck. I think I'll wind up frogging that portion and starting over with some slight variations. Otherwise I'm quite pleased. Hooray for chilly sweater weather!

On Sweaters

I've progressed to the point on Enid where the time comes to divide for the front and back and start on sleeves. It is at this point that I have an epiphany: This is so not fun. This is essentially the same point I stalled on the Blaze sweater but luckily instead of way too many cables, I have the prospect of some awesome stranded color knitting to encourage me through some dull sleeve knitting. I'll definitely be doing both sleeves at the same time on two circs rather than even attempting to do them on dpns. Never again!

What is the appeal of sweaters with all these pieces? Why didn't I try to do this top down and seamless? (oh yeah, because I still think I'm a n00b and have no desire to muck up this project due to my own inadequacies rather than something I can blame on things that are not my fault like pattern errors or yarn inadequacies)

I'm also stalled a bit in the holiday gift department. The clutch for Cousin Jess has been knit and felted and is now in need of some trim and fabric lining (I'm thinking Hula girls). I washed another hank of the yarn for Aunt Judy's stole last night so once that's done drying I can resume with the knitting. But the rest of the gifts are at a standstill. So I feel I have no choice but to revert to that favorite organizational tool of mine: the numbered list. This is however complicated by the fact that secret holiday gift knitting is not the kind of thing that benefits from being publicized in blog format.

1. Clutch for Jess
2. Stole for Aunt Judy
3. Giants Pillow for Dad
4. ____ for JN
5. ____ for TF
6. ____ for MC
7. ____ for LW
8. Socks for Ryan
9. Socks for Dad
10. Balaclava for Chris
11. ___ for TA
12. ___ for KH

heh. see?

I May Have Cheated

and cast on for the selfish sweater.



I know the poll wasn't over yet but it was clear that Enid was in the lead and I haven't worked on a colorwork project in ages (hello! look at the blog title!) that I really couldn't resist.

So Enid is being made using black sport weight baby alpaca from A Touch of Twist, a vendor at Rhinebeck. I'm currently about 4 inches in on the body of the sweater and the baby alpaca is definitely the kind of yarn I just want to rub my face in.

So last night at my Yarntopia SnB I made some purchases (I'll admit that's another reason I was excited for this project). I was hoping the Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light would have more colors, but the reds are just a bit too bright for what I want to do with this sweater. I still managed to pick out three colors for the bottom and top tiers of color and then browsed a bit this morning to find something in another yarn that will go well with those original three colors. My decision is made easier because the main color is black, but it's still quite a challenge. I finally decided to use Blue Sky Alpacas Melange.

So at left is what I've come up with. From the top it's UAL 4283 (Lavender Mix), 4287 (Denim Mix), and 4294 (Turquoise Mix). In the middle, Melange 809 (Toasted Almond) 800 (Cornflower) and 811 (Bubblegum). And then at the bottom the top colors are mixed up a bit with 4294 on top, 4283 in the middle and 4287 at the bottom. I'm liking the digital version and just hope that the colors are true enough that it'll really reflect what I'm getting.

I think it's a really good sign that, for a project that is made up of a lot of stockinette, I'm so excited to get home and knit on it. This will definitely encourage me to buy really wonderful yarn for plain projects. The prospect of steeking makes me feel a little sick to my stomach, but I'm game.

Next Selfish Knitting?

Yes, it's approaching holiday time.

Yes, I have lots of gifts yet to knit.

Yes, I know I typically only knit for myself.

But wouldn't it be nice to have something started that I can work on while I'm home for the holidays that's just for me? Yeah, that's what I thought.

So in the spirit of giving (to myself) I'm setting up a poll over yonder >>>

We're only a year away from the presidential election, so let's flex our voting muscles!
Allow me to introduce you to the contestants:

1. Enid Yoked Pullover: She's a no-nonsense girl with those miles of stockinette stitch, but that colorwork yoke gives just a hint of her soft romantic side. She says "My life's ambition is to alphabetize everything in the Library of Congress... and own my own organic bakery."


2. Buttony Cardigan: If this cardigan was a high schooler, she would totally be the rebel artsy chick with blue streaks in her hair. She says "Buttons down the center? Hah! That's so bourgeois!" (the pic on that link is not so great, but my favorite version, in the yarn I'll use is here.)


3. EZ's Open Collar Pullover: Plain Jane? I say thee nay! This is an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern after all and once she's all dolled up in some Briar Rose Celebration wool/bamboo blend you'll think: Brains and beauty? She's quite a contender. She says "Cogito ergo sum. Now let's go paint our nails."

You will notice that the 3 lovely contestants have one thing in common: they're all sweaters. I think that's due to the fact that it's frakkin cold in my office and even though I'm currently wearing a turtleneck, a wrap, and fingerless mitts, I'm still freezing. Thoughts of sweaters make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, so a sweater I must have.

Some more info to help you make your decisions: Enid would be done in black alpaca with some yet to be decided colors possibly in Berroco ultra alpaca light. Buttony would be done in light blue Araucania Nature Wool. And the Open Collar Pullover would be in a red/pink Briar Rose Celebration (wool/bamboo). All yarns I picked up at Rhinebeck.

Voting will be going on for 1 week. At which point I won't be able to resist casting on for something... anything. Make your vote count!