My Psychedelic Sweater

I'd like to say here, at the outset, that I don't normally wear bright colors. I usually wear dark and muted-colored clothing and try to project a professional image in my work attire. I say this because my latest sartorial creation is uncharacteristically exuberant. The back story is that I've been quite taken with Kauni effektgarn in the rainbow colorway. At the same time, I found a beautiful brocade pattern by Kim Hargreaves and decided to combine the two. I'm still not sure if it was a completely compatible marriage of yarn and pattern.

The original pattern was for a vest and you can see that in the shaping, which I do like.

The process of putting together the sweater began with cutting the steek ...

... and then designing a sleeve pattern. Again, this was taken from a vest pattern, so I had to figure out what design to use for the sleeves. I decided to take a small motif from the pattern on the front of the body which you can see here:

However, making the rest of the sleeves all black did not work. I thought it would tone down the vivid colors of the sweater, but it just looked as though it was from a completely different sweater. So, after this false start, I decided to combine the flower motif from the front with the stripes from the back of the body. I also decided to use a "Siamese" or "twin steek" in order to keep the color changes as consistent as possible across the two sleeves.

Fraternal twins, separated at birth:

Here are some further project details if you're still with me:

The pretty leaf design in the front blended together too much and I don't really care for the combination of green and orange, so I used double-stitching to highlight the pattern in blue.

Meanwhile, the buttons bring out the red.

A bientot!

So Far, So Good: Works in Progress

I've finished the back of Agnes/Joy and I'm really liking how it is turning out so far. I wasn't sure about the combination of tweed and beads, but the added sparkle seems pretty. I may skip the beads on the sleeves, however, to tone down the evening look so I can wear it to the office.





In the meantime, I was also inspired by a Jillian Lewis design to create an equestrian-style knit jacket. Here is her design as found on the Internet. Her version is rumoured to retail for $700.00!



My much less costly version is taking shape here:


A few mistakes have occurred during the course of the shaping, but rather than rip back and lose the creative momentum, I'm pushing forward.


The yarn, elsebeth lavold Classic AL baby alpaca and merino wool blend, is a dream to work with!

Agnes & Joy

I am becoming a huge fan of Kim Hargreaves' knitting designs. In perusing many of her books and designs in magazines, I've noticed that she frequently tweaks and modifies the same basic design for different yarns and seasons. I feel this frees me up from slavishly following any one of her particular patterns and gives me implicit permission to mix and match her ideas and design elements. Accordingly, I've taken two of her very similar designs and decided to combine and modify them to fit my particular preferences.



"Agnes" is an older design published in Rowan Magazine 35 (Spring/Summer 2004) made up in a cotton yarn with bracelet length sleeves. "Joy" is a newer design published in Vintage Knits and features a tweeded yarn with a chevron design done in beads knitted into the body of the cardigan. It's an interesting idea to pair beads with a tweeded yarn - evoking two different moods - so I thought I'd try it. However, Danish damask (knitting a pattern into stockinette stitch using purl stitches) drives me crazy! Although it looks pretty, I constantly lose my place and get frustrated. So, forget it. I will use a simple placement for the beads following the placement of French knots in the Agnes pattern. (I also could not bear the idea of making a zillion French knots.) So, to my mind this is a happy hybrid of two Hargreaves designs. We shall see how it turns out.




Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed Sport 5 ply (12 wpi) in "watery" colorway

My Original Knitting Inspiration

Today I suddenly remembered what set me on the path to knitting.

To set the stage: I attended high school in a coastal Northern California town in the 1970's. During that difficult period of adolescence when I was trying to find my identity, I developed a deep admiration for a girl in my class named Jody. Jody had a unique and very cool sense of style and self-assurance that seemed beyond her years. She didn't fit into any of the typical social groups or cliques. She was a star tennis player, but not part of the "jock group." She was intelligent and made good grades, but was definitely not a "nerd." And with her white blond hair and blue eyes she was strikingly pretty but was not a cheerleader type or a "surfer chick." Jody just seemed to float above the typical and banal social dramas that set the stage for life in high school. She had that mysterious aura of charisma one associates with movie stars.

One chilly winter morning she came to school in a beautiful, very colorful turtleneck sweater that she wore with great panache. I imagined that she looked as though she'd just stepped off the ski slopes of Austria (think Audrey Hepburn in the opening scene of Charade). Anyway, I overheard her telling someone that she'd knit the sweater herself from yarn scraps in her mother's knitting basket. It had turned out to be much too big for her, so, (she continued nonchalantly) she'd thrown it into the washing machine to felt it. Now keep in mind, teenagers in the '70s did not exactly view knitting as the coolest of hobbies. And yet, at that moment, I felt inspired to go home and create my own unique knitted fashions. Thirty years later, I'm still at it!

BTW, the last I heard Jody had become a renowned sculptor / painter living in Soho who sells her art to wealthy connoisseurs from around the world. (Wouldn't you know it?)

An Orchid for Nancy

I pushed myself to finish this sweater yesterday and, after 6 hours of non-stop sewing, here is the final result:

It's a Kim Hargreaves' design called "Orchid" from her Nectar collection. (Also the same design as "Beatrix" in her Thrown Together collection and "Darcy" in the Heartfelt collection). This one is made up in Rowan purelife organic cotton naturally dyed in the Logwood colorway.



In this close-up of the neckline you can see the array of buttons used.

My friend Nancy (the giftee) picked up these vintage buttons at a crafts fair and asked that I use a random assortment. No two buttons are alike on this sweater!

Because this was a gift, I tried my very hardest to do a perfect job, but of course there were mistakes.

1. I messed up on the broken rib pattern while working the short row shaping on the back peplum. Did not go back and rip it out.

2. The buttonholes are a bit sloppy. I don't like the method of yo, k2tog -- I much prefer to cast off two stitches, then cast back on, then work the cast-ons the following row. Much neater looking.

and,

Lessons learned:

1. I learned how to do mattress stitch. For me, I have to leave the loops small and pull the seam closed every few stitches or the yarn gets hopelessly stuck.

2. My bind-off is usually too tight, but I learned it's also possible to make it too loose. The neckline is bordeline floppy. Sigh.

3. I am a huge devotee of the single crocheted seam. I know, I know, it's bulky. But, it's quick! By the time I'm piecing together a sweater, I'm ready for quick!

Casting off until next time ....

Color Me ... Turquoise

I can't resist fun little quizzes like this one which gives you the colors that describe your personality. My colors are green and blue which seems to fit pretty well. Given that I'm a therapist, the other parts seem to fit as well.

you are turquoise #40E0D0

Your dominant hues are green and blue. You're smart and you know it, and want to use your power to help people and relate to others. Even though you tend to battle with yourself, you solve other people's conflicts well. Your saturation level is higher than average - You know what you want, but sometimes know not to tell everyone. You value accomplishments and know you can get the job done, so don't be afraid to run out and make things happen. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

I know, I know, what does this have to do with knitting? Not much. But, I have been knitting away and the creative juices have been flowing as I design a sweater that is a hybrid of several I've admired. I don't want to blog about it too soon, however, before I find out if it's a success or not. Don't worry, apparently "I know I can get the job done!"

Daisy Buttons? You be the Judge

I'm knitting Orchid from Nectar by Kim Hargreaves for a friend who has a funky, retro sensibility.

Yesterday, I found these black and white daisy buttons in my LYS.

Question: Are these super cute and would totally make the look? Or, are they incredibly tacky?

Let me know what you think. Here is another look at the buttons:



I was also thinking of adding a thin cream-colored edging to the neck and front to complement the two tone look.