Belated Bog

So, I've had these photos for days, and I'm just now posting. I know, the shame.Pattern: Bog Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around
Yarn: Undyed Irish aran-weight wool bought in Galway, and 1 skein Louet Gems Topaz for I-cord edging
Needles: Addi Turbos, US #8, 32"
Modifications: I did all of EZ's suggested mods except the pockets. This included: longer sleeves with short-row arm shaping, waist shaping, shoulder shaping, "phoney seams", and i-cord edging. I also installed a double-direction zipper instead of buttons b/c I thought it would be more wearable and modern that way.I am completely thrilled with how this turned out. While I was making the jacket, I was having very serious doubts. It looked like a giant mass of white wooliness, which still smelled a little sheepy, to be honest, and I was afraid the fit would be really off, since it was such a strange form of construction. It turned out to be a snug, fitted wool jacket!
The knitted-on i-cord edging really added a lot:
And though it took several hours to do, it was well-worth the effort.
Cross-posted at Yarnmonster.

Oh Baby!

You will all recognize this as the start to the EZ February Baby Sweater, found in the Knitter's Almanac. So far (and that "so far" is meant as foreshadowing....), the sweater has been knit with an acryllic yarn (Sorry EZ!) on US 6 circulars.

Here(below) is a closeup of the buttons I'm going to use. The choice of button colors is strategic. You see, like BrooklynTweed (now, if only I were just like BT!!), I've run out of yarn. Unlike BT, I don't have anyone to dye me up another batch of matching yarn. So I'm going to have to take drastic measures, which will be to switch to a bright green or lavender color (or both) to finish off the sweater.

What do you color experts think I should do? Finish with the fuscia, then move to a lavender, and then edge it all off with a bright and fun lime green (all in an attempt to match the buttons and thus save face by making it seem like I wanted that color scheme instead of the reality that I do not know any better than to start a project without enough yarn)? Or will this result in a hideous sweater whereby the beautiful, soft-spoken mother-to-be will exclaim, upon opening the shower gift, "WTF"? Please offer some suggestions, dear readers. Please advise me as to what I should do (keeping in mind that getting more of the same yarn is out given that I picked up this yarn a year ago at a yard sale in a different country....

So I ask you to help a girl out with a suggestion or two. And yes, I will accept it if y'all advise me to rip it all out and start again with a new (WOOL!) yarn, with the appropriate yardage. Is this what EZ would do??

Cross-posted on my blog.

Husbeast Gansey finished!

That's a lousy picture of him, but you get the gist of the sweater.

It's the Saddle Shoulder decrease method from "Knitting Without Tears", done without any tweaking other than adding some texture to it. The yarn is Highland Wool from Elann.com in color #1440, Sherwood Forest. I used sixteen balls of it, on size seven/4.5mm needles.

Here are closeups of the shoulder decreasing, front and back:



And here's a closeup of the twisted-stitch pattern I ran up the outsides of both sleeves and across the shoulder straps:


I love this pattern. Seamless with set-in sleeves and no steeks. It doesn't get any better. It's a quick knit, too. I started it in October, worked on a bunch of other projects as well, and finished it last week.

As always, gory details over on the blog.

December Challenge?

Anyone up for a KAL for the December sweater from "Knitters Almanac"?

I don't know about anyone else, but I sure could use a quick project for a holiday present. I'm thinking, since it's bulky, of using Lamb's Pride Bulky -- the pattern calls for 2 1/2 st. per inch, so I'd probably be knitting on size 11 needles.

Any takers?

Adult Surprise Jacket

I have finished my first adult surprise jacket, this was made in hand spun and dyed wensleydale, I belong to the Kent (UK) Guild of Spinners Dyers and Weavers, it took me most of the summer to prepare, dye and spin the fleece, and then 4 weeks to knit it! I am pleased with the colours, and it's very warm to wear.

mittens progress

norwegian mittens. version 2.1. knitter's almanac. lighter weight yarn, different colors, much more enjoyable. it's still a bit bumpy but i'm quite a proud mitten-maker at the moment.




and the palm side. you can see the scrap yarn where the magic thumb trick was used. and as you can also see, i forgot to resume the tiling pattern after the thumb trick! the stripey part was only supposed to be for the thumb. oh well. i'm hoping that it'll look cool anyway when it's completed.

It's a crying shame...

that I did not double check my gauge sooner...












What you don't see in the photo is that I have about 14 inches of the body of a Seamless Hybrid completed, and it's the wrong size. This is what being a half stitch off on your gauge gets you! It's supposed to be a 46 and it's closer to 50. Oh well, this gives me the opportunity to get that hem right. It really was too bulky...rrripppp!

My favourite flavour of Pi

It's gloomy as anything outside today, but I can't wait to photograph it any longer:


Pattern: Pi Shawl from Knitter's Almanac
Yarn: Fyberspates hand dyed laceweight - 90% wool, 10% nylon
Modifications: Apart from knitting less rounds in the final section than the original pattern specifies, none! The stitch patterns in each section and the edging are all taken from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman, which I really recommend as a source of a good selection of stitch patterns that fit easily into the shawl without having to alter stitch counts!

This is possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever knitted. It was so worth the hours spent knitting the edging which I thought would never be done. EZ has created a fantastic recipe for a shawl that can be as difficult or as easy as you want it to be. Me, I chose easy! I think the delicate yarn and pointy edge - 144 points! - helped to make it something a bit special, though.

Some more closeups:








And the whole thing:


This is going to be so hard to give away as a present, but if my MIL doesn't like it, I won't have any hesitation in taking it right back. :-)

A pair of mittens DONE!

What started life as this:
Were finished on Thanksgiving Day 2006! And just in time as it looks like it might be chilly this weekend!

EZ meets Nicki Epstein!

I knit this hat for a Xmas charity -- using the EZ "Knitting Workshop" guidelines, then decided to add a few curly-ques from "Knitting on the Edge". The colors aren't great in the photo -- but they're lime green, orange and turquoise, all in Lamb's Pride Worsted.










Though I've been knitting since I was 8, I only recently discovered EZ and her wonderful books. Now, I'm an addict!

Donning the Yoke

Here we have my feeble attempts to design the yoke of my niece's sweater. Did I bother to figure out how many rows I need to cover in the yoke before doing this? No. Did I build decrease rows into all these patterns? No. Guess I was just too eager to whip out the colored pencils to be bothered with the technical stuff. Anyway, I'm going to synthesize these at some point soon (very soon... I only have about 10 days to finish this project!) into a workable pattern.

Here's the most viable candidate so far:



But I'm sure there's some part of the math I'm missing here. I didn't realize how spoiled I was by working mostly in Knitter's Almanac, which dissects each garmet archetype ("recipe") in detail before launching into the pattern instructions. The Opinionated Knitter contains the straight dope - EZ's newsletters - which don't dwell much on the details. Anyway, if anyone has good advice for designing Icelandic yokes, drop me a line (coughcoughHelloYarncough). I'm particularly concerned with getting correct math. The patterns in the EZ version are all 4-stitch repeats, but not all the decrease rows result in numbers divisible by 4, which puzzles me. (i.e., you start with 220 st then decrease to 147 stitches. What gives?). Also, from what I can figure out, there always needs to be a solid (non-colorwork) row in which to execute the decreases, correct? Are there general rules to follow when designing this type of yoke?

[X-posted at Fig and Plum]

Totem Questions

I really want to make a Totem for my niece. EZ gives 4 sizes: Baby, Child (27"), Child (32"), & Adult). Any help on what the commercial sizes would be for the 2 Child sizes? I'm pretty sure that the Little One will not sit still long enough for a measuring (also, if I don't get to it, my sister isn't asking, "where is it?"). I would love for anyone who has made it could comment on the fit.

Lola

Mrs. Zimmerman's proportions...

Mrs. Zimmerman's proportions seem to be failing me. Or I'm failing them, either way I'm at an impass with my seamless saddle and would appreciate any suggestions.

I've joined my sleeves and knitted 1 inch. I'm ready for (and actually completed 4 rounds) my first rounds of decreases to consume the body down to my target number which happens to be 80 stitches. Of course, I didn't count first. If I had, I would have realized that low and behold, I already have my target number.

This is perplexing.

I'm assuming those first few rounds of decreases are necessary for proper shaping and that I can't simply jump to the sleeve consumption decreases.

I'm not quite sure what to do... I've measured my back three times and it's always the same at 17 inches. I'm on gauge so that's all correct, too.

I'm perfectly happy to rip back to the join and do a hybrid at this point, but I do really love the saddle construction.

Any ideas?

My First Zimmerman Sweater!

This is my first seamless yoke sweater, and my first attempt at a fair isle pattern (if you don't count the rather lame hat I made as a swatch!). I had a great time knitting it and I loved the method!

I'm rewriting the chart now so it's legible, and will be posting that on my blog today or tomorrow if anyone would like to share.

Edited to add: the chart is up now if anyone would like it! Thanks for all your kind comments!

Lydia / Windansea

not EZ...requesting your opinions

Zimmermaniacs-

I hope you don't mind my interrupting our regularly scheduled discussion for an off-topic post...

I've created a knitting search engine using the new Google Co-op. Would you be willing to give it a try and let me know what you think?

You can find the search box here: http://www.purldive.com

Or on its Google homepage:
http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=017774317383136764079%3Ae-gucwuh9pe

Right now it is searching about 100 sites.

thanks!

Deb

First EZ items finished

First up is a grey watchcap:



Pattern: Brioche Stitch Watchcap from Knitting without Tears
Yarn: 2 strands of Patons Classic Wool Merino, Colour 00225 Dark Grey Mix
Needles: Knitpicks Options US 11 (8mm)

(Note: Contrary to what the picture shows, the hat is not flat on top when worn on my head. The candle in the candle-holder, while a perfectly agreeable model, does suffer from being flat on top. I do not.)

I actually finished this hat a couple of weeks ago (when it was cold, before a mild, rainy, grey spell hit) and I seriously love this hat. I love the pattern. I love knitting it. I love wearing it. I made a red one a while back for Dulaan and decided to make one for myself. Are there others in my future? You betchya! I may even make a brioche stitch scarf to match the hat.

And next, my very first Tomten for Dulaan:



Pattern: Modular Tomten Jacket from Knitting without Tears
Modifications: Stripes and a crocheted edging up the front pieces and around the hood to make ties
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool (beige, lt blue, dk blue, red)
Needles: Knitpicks Options 4mm

This is so easy to make, and so very very cute. I didn’t have enough of one colour, so I added stripes. The size of the stripes was in direct relation to the amount of each colour I had on hand. I totally eyeballed it, and hoped I wouldn’t run out of any one colour. I didn’t. I still need to add in a zipper, and I may even line it with fleece to make it even warmer. I’m also thinking of adding the red crocheted edging around the bottom and sleeves.

I'm really happy with both items, and I will definitely making more EZ stuff. I also find she's influencing me in other ways. For example, while I was making the sweater, I noticed that I had miscounted the ridges on one of the front sides, so they mismatched. Now, in the past I would have ripped it out and fixed it. Instead, I snipped, undid the row, knit an extra ridge and grafted the whole thing back together (Photos here and here on my blog)

Giving the EZ %s a Try

New Projects

Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Zara Plus in Charcoal Grey
Needle: Size 8

All is well so far in making a Seamless Yoke Sweater for Chicky using Elizabeth Zimmermann percentages. I am not sure what I am going to do on the top. I might keep it simple and use all Zara Plus or I may use Wendy from Knit and Tonic's pattern with the colors shown. I've decide on a 3/4 length sleeve. I just did as EZ instructed and started knitting, I'll choose the finishing details as I need to.

Lace Pelerine (poncho)--finished!

I finally finished! This was fun to knit but the rows just keep getting longer and longer! The lace pattern is beautiful and not difficult to do.

The pattern is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pelerine from one of her Spun Outs. Yarn is Knitpicks. I thought that since I ordered it all at once that it was all the same. I should have checked! As it turned out 2 of the skeins were Wool of the Andes natural and 2 were the newer Bare and they are different colors!!!! Can you tell? The top 1/3 and the bottom band are darker, almost yellowed looking.

I was planning on leaving this natural colored but I may have to dye it. I am hoping that washing will help.

I wish ponchos would have been popular a few years ago. They would have been great for when I was nursing my babies!

Cross posted at my blog

Thank You

Thank you all so much for your nice comments on my epaulet sweater. It has been a busy week and I have not had the chance to send personal emails, so here is public thank you to everyone!!

Many of you asked about the yarn I used. It is a bit of a story. Quite some years ago I bought a lovely handknit sweater. The label was brief -- handknit in New Zealand. It was all done in garter stitch and had batwing sleeves. You know where this is going. It was in style for a while, then I decided it was time to rip. The wool feels like a wool mohair blend, it is lovely and warm on these cold fall days. I really liked the play of colours. Too good to waste, so the skeins sat in my stash waiting for a new life. The epaulet sweater seemed like the ideal choice, and since the pattern is top down, I figured I could add borders or cuffs if I ran out of wool. Would you believe I finished the sweater with only meters to spare.

Another epaulet sweater is currently in the works, this time in Fleece Artist and alpaca. This is a fabulous design and open to interpretation. And now I know how the pattern works.

Great Blue Socks!

Ta-da! Took me long enough, but I've finally got some socks to show.

It's hard to talk up socks when everyone else has been producing fantastic sweaters. But even the socks show the touch of Elizabeth Zimmerman. Her pattern specifies having a few stitches of garter stitch on each edge of the heel-flap, and I think it's a subtle way to add a little interest to a simple sock.

The pattern recipe, by the way, is from Knitting Without Tears. I used the conventional heel. Fit is pretty good, and I think the errors have to do with my being a novice sock knitter and not knowing how to fit a sock just so. My main issue is that the socks are a wee bit too short in the leg - any advice for how to lenghten after the socks are otherwise finished?

Neverthless, this is a quick and simple way to get a dose of Elizabeth Zimmerman! A few more details are on my blog

Seamless Saddle Shoulder

Woo-hoo! It's done.

I joined the sleeves to the body Friday night - and happily knit most of Saturday and Sunday. Last night I finished off the saddles, and did the neckline. I'm too excited to block it just yet....

Another picture on my website betseydoodle.ca

The facts:

Yarn: Fleece Artist Kid/Silk 2ply - 2 skeins (250 g & 440 m each) There was only about 20 g left

Colour: No idea - they don't lable their colourways... but if I had to guess - it's close to Aegean When I ordered it via EBay - the seller called it "teal"

Needles: 3.75 mm circulars - The yarn calls for 4mm needles - but it seemed a little to loose to carry the ribbing.

Guage: 6 sts & 8 rows per inch

Pattern: Seamless -Saddle Shoulder - from Knitting Without Tears

Modifications: V-Neck - 2 x 2 ribbing - some minor fudging with numbers to ensure that the ribbing pattern worked. Waist shaping, as well as Bust short-rows.

Still plugging away

It's been a crazy long time since I've posted any progress but there's not really been anything exciting to show on hubby's seamless hybrid so far. I've been doing more sewing than knitting which has slowed the progress somewhat.
Not to mention that the body of this sweater has fell into a knitting black hole at about the 12" mark, seems I knit for days and days and I still have 12" of body so I'm going to count rounds tonight and do some math to see where I'm really at (I know from experience that the missing knitting will reappear the minute I go to block this and I'll be mad mad mad if I have to frog a bunch of the body). In the meantime I've started a sleeve to at least fool myself into thinking this is getting somewhere.


My son's henley yoked pullover math is done and I got the colourwork pattern I want to use to fit into the available yoke stitches on the first try so it must be meant to be so I'll cast on for that pretty soon. I also picked up a copy of The Opinionated Knitter at my LYS on the weekend and some Lamb's Pride superwash to make a baby surprise jacket for my little guy so I should be getting to that soon too.

Christmas Baby Surprise Jacket

Mom calls Thursday - I have a great idea, can you make something for the auction? (The school I went to has an auction every year as a fundraiser.) Sure, mom, when is it? November 18th.

Yeah...
The pattern is written for yarn at 6 stitches per inch, and the chenille knits up about 2.5 stitches to the inch. So I just figured out that it's about 42% of the pattern, and made all of the numbers 42% of what she has in the book. It worked very well, which was fortunate, as I had no time for errors.

I got the measurements for the bonnet from a baby pattern book and then just sort of made something up. It only took about an hour to make, and I think it looks pretty cute. I put an i-cord edge on every edge I could find, a la EZ, as well as a twisted cord for the bonnet ties.

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket from Knitting Workshop, and made up bonnet pattern
Yarn: Lion Brand Thick & Quick Chenille
(I am such a snob, I still can't believe I used this yarn and it actually came out nice.)
Needles: Size 10.5 bamboo circulars
Buttons from JoAnn
Time to make: About 8 hours total
Jacket Size: 20" around, 12" long
Bonnet: 13" around top, 5" deep

- nat

Waiter, Can We Get Another Ganomy Over Here, Please?

Ok, I'm not sure if we can handle one more Ganomy over here at Zimmermania, but whether you like it or not, I present to you yet another Ganomy (modeled here by Hemingway).

I used Ella Rae Classic Wool Yarn and knit it on 4 mm circular needles. It wasn't my favourite yarn to work with, but it wasn't terrible. The brown wasn't quite the brown I was looking for [it seems a bit dull, a bit flat in its color], but that's just me being too picky. The pattern (in EZ's Knitter's Almanac) was crafty & smart, and easy to follow, more so because of the guidance of others on the Zimmermaniac KAL. I took the inspiration for the two-colored Ganomy from Jessica (of Fig & Plum).

As others have noted, including the previous post, I ended up with a bump on the top of the head. After ripping back a couple of times, I finally just gave in, telling myself that a bump isn't so bad.

The overall finished project? I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. Pragmatically, this hat will do what it needs to do: keep my ears warm! And I do like how I can either wear it with the ear flaps pulled down, or easily roll them up if that strong Southwest wind isn't blowing down my neck.

For other shots of Papa Hemmy demonstrating the Ganomy's versatility, go here on Flickr for his other modeling shots.

Now, onto what I've really been wanting to make. Like everyone else, I have been more than inspired by Brooklyn Tweed's version of EZ's hybrid sweater. (In fact, I often find myself both incredulous and inspired by Jared's work.)

So, in 100% New Zealand wool (acquired for cheap on ebay months ago), I began the first step towards that EZ hybrid sweater: here then is the almighty swatch.

With Buddha's blessing, and the help of the Zimmermaniacs, hopefully this sweater will live up to Brooklyn Tweed's handiwork. (Most of this post cross-posted here.)

Ganomy hat with a skully twist

Hi there,
My name is jane and I am from Derbyshire in the UK. I have just started knitting EZ's patterns (even though I have been knitting for about 30 years) so I picked a quick knit. The hat was fun to knit but a 'bump' appeared on top which looked a bit strange so I decided to add a tassel and plaits with little polymer clay skull beads to spice it up a bit. I am pleases with it now....just need the weather to chill off!
Hat's off to all you clever knitters... I am constantly inspired!

Saddle Shoulder....

Busy weekend of knitting !

This pic of the shaping of the shoulder. I've got a couple more rows of the corner of the upper shoulder - before I start the saddle.

Another BSJ is Finished

Project: Baby Surprise Jacket from The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Yarn: Plymouth Encore, color 7064
Needles: US5 dpn
Finished Size: I'm not really sure. I think it is somewhere around an 18 month size or maybe larger.
Notes: I made this by the pattern, used I-cord to seam the shoulders, and added a 4-stitch I-cord edging. I love this pattern! I hadn't seamed it when I took it with me to buy buttons. Someone asked about it and it was so fun to show the odd shape and how simply it turned into a sweater. The colors range from pale green through blue and then lavender. I haven't figured out which lucky baby will get this one. It is really nice to have a spare ready!

Edited to answer the question: No, I did nothing special to get this striping. This is part of the magic of EZ's design! It works beautifully in a colorway with some striping.

Avalanche Raglan

Pattern: Basic Elizabeth Zimmerman Raglan
Yarn: Avalanche yarn from Ryan
Needles: US13 Denise Circulars and US11 Bryspun DPNs
Notes: Fastest. Sweater. Ever. Started Wednesday night and finished on Friday. For the Dulaan Project (pdf).

- Jessica

moccasin socks

From the knitter's almanac, done in Paton's wool rich DK. The only mod really was that I changed from rib to st st. There were a few numbers played with for the larger guage.

They are destined to be "superman socks" for my brother. When he was little he was obsessed with superman and I made him some superman boots by drawing a superman logo in gold paint on the side of some red wellington boots. Now he's all grown up, I said I'm make him a slipper sock version.

I'm going to put some blobs of fabic paint on the soles, so he's less likely to slip when he's wearing them.

I'm not sure whether to embroider/ crochet on the superman logo or use fabric paint for it. What do you think?

Next up, some mitered mit's from the same book. Though I think I'll do them top-down, on two circs (both mits at once, if I can).

My Norwegian Mittens

I've just started these and am enjoying them so much! I've got the cuffs done and have started on the hand. I'm doing the "Winter Spruce" pattern in honor of EZ. She notes in her Knitting Around that the WS is her own pattern and not a traditional Scandinavian design -- but I thought snowflakes on the hand (and the cuff) would be a bit much.

You'll notice I'm doing these on circs, both mittens at a time -- this way I'll make sure I get the thumbs positioned properly, etc. And I won't have the "oops, they don't match" syndrome! The wool was from my stash -- old Bernat "Cameo" -- a very soft wool that is in teal, burgundy and cream.....

2x2 - Saddle Shoulder progress

Things are looking great for finishing soon on my EZ saddle-shoulder. I was going to do a hybrid - but a few test swatches with the 2x2 rib said "don't do it"!

Still loving the yarn (FleeceArtist Kid/Silk 2ply) in this most equisite caribbean blue water colour.

Here in Ottawa on Thursday, the Yarn Harlot herself came for a talk. I was there early, knit during the talk, and knit while I was waiting for the very long lineup for the book signing to die down...I was able to make some serious progress on the second arm.



Funny how 2x2 ribbing makes things look "small"! I've tried it on, and it does indeed fit as designed...I'm now almost finished the second arm... and I'm thinking that I just might be done this weekend....

More on my blog

Purple EZ Fully Loaded

I didn't post as I was in progress but here is my EZ saddle shoulder finished. I'm lovin it! and look Ma no calories, no overload of salt and fat and no beef from questionable sources!



There are more photos on my blog.