FO - Loopy Mohair Trim Sweater

Over a month ago I said I had nearly finished this - but I dragged it along to Rubi and Lana today to attempt finishing it.. and after several hours of playing with stray ends and a darning needles...


ta-dah!


THE STATS

NAME: Loopy Mohair Trim Sweater
PATTERN:Patons Leaflet 2118 (now out of print)
YARN: Patons Totem 8-ply crepe in Old Gold colour, and matching Patons Loopy Mohair
YARN SOURCE: Hornsby Wool and Craft Nook, and Spotlight
NEEDLES: 4.5mm tulip bamboo 80cm circulars and Addi Turbo 5.5mm circulars
COMPLETED: 20 Mar 07 (knitting completed 02 Feb 07)


I got a great compliment from Kate whilst at Rubi and Lana - she said my invisible mattress stitch seams were worthy of the knitting guild :) I felt incredibly proud at that moment - I took great care to actually swatch to get the correct gauge, and then to take the time to mattress stitch the seams. Without looking too closely at my weaving in of ends (I am still uncertain how to do that neatly) I think I have completed a rather professional looking item!


Shadow Tweed..


I got a couple of comments following my yarn review yesterday, so I am briefly revisiting this topic.


Firstly - I have mentioned in a couple of previous posts, but I bought my Shadow Tweed at the Wool Inn at Penrith about 3 weeks ago. From what I understand, Patons and Australian Country Spinners launched the new seasons yarns and colours the week prior to my purchase at the Stitches and Craft Show. My guess is that they are filling stockists orders as they come in.


Also - I have wound up/knitted 4 of the 8 balls I bought, and so far have not found any knots or sticks/twigs. The colour graduations and changes seem to be fairly uniform and consistent.

bah - weaving ends in...

First and foremost - I finally got my Lisa Souza yarns!

I think Lisa worked all through the xmas / new year period dyeing and skeining up orders after a problem with stock distribution, so I am really happy to have received them.

I emailed Lisa to tell her that the yarns made it all the way to Oz, that I luffed them, and I would wax lyrical about them on the blog.

I ordered Sock! and Sock! Merino in three colourways - Gendarme (very regal - the gold is this is soooo gold!) Lime'n'Violet (to support their mike fund), and Violet's Pink ribbon (to support a woman / women with possible breast cancer).

These yarns are oh-so cushy and soft - in fact, they have that much bounce in them that the skeins seemed huge! - bigger than regular size skeins of sock yarn I have been hoarding (and I guess, technically at 4oz / 113g they are, but it shouldn't make such a big difference). I also ordered some Brittany Birch DPNs - these are nice and warm like the bamboo, but not as flexible. And no, Pierre will not be getting his teeth on these!

Of course - yesterday I promised pics of the newly completed (bar the weaving in of ends - BAH!) loopy mohair sweater.

First, is this pic of the front and back complete. This is where I learnt not to complete a 3 needle cast off while watching the men's tennis final. If you look closely at this picture you can see I was completely distracted and did the 3n-co on the wrong side... So I got to do it again the next morning...
Once I got this far, I tried to fit the sleeve in, but the cap just didn't fit. I re-worked the sleeve cap so that it was a perfect fit, and I could use mattress stitch as much as possible for hidden seams. I was thankful that I didn't have to rip back the loopy, because previous experience has taught me that it is a bastard to frog.

And here is the completed garment (look at all those terrible ends!)

It fits - and a damn good thing too! I did actually complete a gauge swatch / tension square for this - because it was fitted I thought anything a size too big or too small would make me look like an idiot. I ended up using 4.5mm needles instead of the recommended 4mm. Yes - I am a toit knitter, which means I usually use a lot less than the recommended # of balls, but this time I used more (must have been those sleeve caps I re-did). I was glad I went a-hunting extra totem, this is all that remains! (oh an half a ball of loopy)

I will post the stats once I have finished those darning those darn ends in.

I already have a new project on the needles - a design attempt in cotton...

return of the coffee wench...

I have been a slack blogger for the past week, I've been writing job application letters, running to as far a Penrith for job interviews and follow up interviews, getting job market tips from my career coach, and lurking on seek.com.au like a pervert on a free-pr0n site.

The good news, I have a job. It will do for the interim - part time barista, so enough to pay the bills, and I may have to knit up some of my stash for a while (yeah - lets see how long that lasts....) but the aim is to have me promoted to a full-time supervisor fairly quickly.

I have also handed in a couple of other applications, so I might still get a job where I can wear funky shoes....

And here are some great pictures I came across while looking up some job-hunting tips... I will just point out that I will be making my art of espresso from behind a very spacious bar...

In knitting news - I have pretty much completed the loopy mohair trim sweater - I just need to sew up the loopy cuffs, and weave in all the ends (all the other sewing is done, with 3 needles cast offs and mattress stitch no less - all so neat and tidy) A more detailed posts with photos will follow soon!

sock it to me...

Don't want to be called un-australian, so here is Google's ode to today, that I think is rather cute:And on to the knitting...

Brenda's socks - this one spoke to me and said it would like to be an anklet. Or perhaps I was getting a little bored of the pattern repeat and wanted to make sure I would get a second sock out of me... either way, this make for an adorable sock.

And the merino-cashmere is oh so comfortable. I want to wear it now... all the time...

And Brenda - I love the way this pattern looks, it is satisfying to have one sock complete, but man, those cables are just hard work!

No... I haven't finished an xmas stocking - this is sock numero uno of the Sasquatch variety.

I used some kitchen scales to split the yarn into two equal sized balls, so hopefully I won't be wasting any yarn and these will be maximum length.

I am using Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch, and have to say it is one of the softest feeling commercial sock yarns I have knit with. It is a 6ply, but it feels cushier and thicker when knit up than the ONline I have used previously - perhaps this is the Lycra content of the yarn?

I also really like the way that the colour subtly changes through the spectrum as you knit and you get those gradual stripes. It was hard to get a decent photo of how the yarn changes colour, but trust me, it is gorgeous (in a socks-for-a-man-who-only-ever-wears-holeproof-heroes)

Here is the spotty ladybug sock, having made a complete recovery from the savage dog attack.

I also stopped in at Tapestry Craft to get new 15cm bamboo DPNs that Pierre will never, ever get to touch. (Does anywhere else in Sydney stock 15cm DPNs? How about ones with some really sharp points so that it makes cables easier? I really like the look of the knit-picks DPNs - but they aren't playing the game here in Oz)

And completely un-sock related, I have started the front of my loopy mohair trim sweater. So far it is exactly the same as the back....

FOUR KILLED IN SAVAGE DOG ATTACK

Four Tulip 15cm Bamboo 2.75 needles were tragically dismembered today leaving the sole survivor speechless. The departed are believed to be victim to a vicious attack perpetrated by an innocent and cute looking dog that goes by the name "Pierre". Pierre, aka "The Yarn Snob", is well known for his ability to destroy natural and luxury yarns, has now apparently progressed to the more evil crime of needle-torturing. The below image shows the wreckage he can cause to both needles and yarn in a mere hour.
The spotty ladybug sock is currently in a stable condition, after being taken to intensive care and being put on life support consisting of four metal DPNs. The sole survivor of the family of five needles will undertake rehab as a cable needle for some time. Clean up crews are still trying to find pieces of the victims in the vicinity of the carnage.

Below is an image of the perpetrator, taken earlier today, in which he deceptively fakes a false respect for the knitted item. (Item is completed sleeve from loopy mohair trim sweater). If you are approached by this hound, please consider him to be fanged and dangerous. Please watch your knitting at all times, and for heaven's sake, please do not let it out by itself,

beading fun...

I got my bulk order of findings today, so lots of beading was done and the store has been updated with a whole bunch of new stitch markers. (I have broken nails and sore fingertips - I am glad knitting doesn't cause these superficial but annoying injuries)


Big thank-you to Kate for being my first customer (yay!) She gets a little something extra in her order for being a milestone customer :)

The evening has been devoted to knitting - just started the sleeve cap, so should have another piece of the loopy mohair trim sweater complete and on show tomorrow.

Yarn, HO!

On Friday I completed a teeny yarn crawl looking for more totem...

I decided I would drive up the Pacific HWY and stop off along the way to see what I could find. First stop was Greta's Handcrafts - I actually expected to find Totem in abundance there. Greta's has a feeling of a yarn store from 20 years ago that hasn't quite given in to the renaissance of knitting, and for some reason I thought it would stock all the classics.

Greta had a few balls of Totem, in a handful of colours - but not more than two balls of any one colour, and not colour #4249 like I was looking for. In fact, I did have a quick browse at Greta's, and it appears that they didn't have enough of any one colour yarn to make a garment out of. I could be wrong - perhaps they have a display of the variety on the shelves, with the majority of the stock out the back, but that wasn't the impression I got.

I continued up the HWY, bypassing Rubi and Lana (I know they don't stock Totem, and I find it impossible to walk out of there without a skein or two) and ended up all the way out at Hornsby craft and wool nook. (I think there is a fabric store/haberdasheries somewhere along the HWY that stocks yarn, but I don't know where that is. If anyone knows, please leave the details in the comments)

Here, I hit the jackpot -
1. They stock Totem..
2. They had colour #4249 (incidentally, the colour is called "old gold" - so technically I am not knitting another green jumper)...
3. Freakily, it was the same dye-lot as what I already had, and...
4. Due to Patons re-labelling Totem, they were selling all stock cheep!

Yes, It appears that Totem is not actually changing, but the labelling of it is. The description is going to change from "8ply premium wool crepe" to "100% pure Australian Merino Wool". (I guess "Merino" sounds more luxurious than plain old wool) - however, it appears that Patons is also using this opportunity to re-vamp the colours available in the trusty yarn. And "old gold" has been given the "heave-ho" (Thank you very much to the assistant at Hornsby craft and wool nook for sharing some of the info in the Patons marketing binder with me - sorry, but I forgot your name)

Which left me with a bit of a dilemma. I only had 8 balls of yarn have already used 3 and a bit balls for the back of my loopy mohair trim sweater. I figure the front will use similar amounts, and the sleeves 1.5 to 2 balls. By those calculations, I needed 2-3 balls to complete the sweater. Seeing as I knew this colour was going to be discontinued, I didn't want to get to an inch from the final sleeve cap and run out... so to be on the safe side, I got double what I thought I would need. The laws of knitting dictate that 4 balls excess is always better than 4 metres short.....

While I was out at Hornsby, I decided to do a bit of window shopping, and low and behold, I found this...

What can I say - the black PVC cover called to me, and I had some borders vouchers to burn.

I have only had a cursory browse, but it looks like this is have technical manual (not just learn-to-knit) and half patterns (some knit on the bias...ooh).

This will be an upcoming kniterature for when I have no knitting progress to share with you...




...which, fortunately I do have today...
Thanks to some of my favourite podcasts having new episodes available this week, I managed to get through those 55 rows of stockinette before I blinked twice. Once piece of the loopy mohair trim sweater is complete (and 100% endorsed by Pierre)

So far, I have followed the pattern except for a couple of minor changes.
1. I changed all the sl 1, k2tog, psso to sssk to better match the k3tog on the other dart.
2. I haven't cast off the back yet because I am planning to complete 3-needle cast-offs for the shoulders, and
3.In order to get nice sloping shoulders instead of steps I completed all the decreases as short rows. If you look under the stitch markers in this close up picture you can see where I turned for the short rows - I haven't tried this before and so far I am happy with the results.


And this is the pattern I am working from, now out of print. I bought it about 1999 or 2000.

blah... oh, and big sale

Sorry, but I am feeling a bit blah today - I spent 2.5 hours with my career coach revising my resume (so I could continue to fund my yarn habit after I finish with my current employement in a couple of weeks...bad bad ebay is tempting me again)

The good news is I got to do some sasquatch sock knitting while taking the scenic route through Longueville on the non-air conditioned bus... as you can see, these really are being made for a Bigfoot


I made good progress my loopy-mohair trim sweater - until I reached the 55 rows of boring stockinette, which is about this far...

up til here there was shaping every few rows, so it went rather fast. I am liking the way it is knitting up - should be nice fitted garment when I am done. I did check out the stash, and again I am short a few balls of totem. I shall have to do a run around again to see if I can get two or three balls more. I know a few places in Sydney that had a bit in stock about 6 months ago, so am staying optimistic. (but just in case - I am using colour #4249 if you have some lying is your stash you want to get rid off... I won't even bother with the dye lot as I doubt it will match - I'll just knit a sleeve with the extra when I get it)


Following some encouragement from Kate, I have started my own etsy store. To begin with it will just be my handmade stitch markers (in fact, only one set at the moment - the black cats pictured) and I'll see where it goes from there. Please drop by and feel free to pass on any constructive criticism.

And finally - just because I can, here is Pierre going crazier than a 3yo on red cordial after a bath. The poor guy has it a bit rough at the moment - he is having problems with bush ticks (the non-paralytic ones) and had an unscheduled visit to the vet for an insecticide scrub and a shot to help the itching. I gave him the bath prior to taking him to the vet - the poor runt was so aggravated by the parasites that he looked like he was trying to chew his legs off. (oh - and he has officially hit 2kg, never mind that that was complete with harness, colour, dog tag and lead)