Sunday, July 23, 2006

Almost done...

Now comes the hardest part, to put the finishing touches on the garment. I'm going to put a couple of buttons and maybe the same crochet edging at the bottom. I'm not sure yet, but the fun part is done.

The yarn I used is finger weight Egyptian Cotton by Blue Heron, hand dyed super soft and it feels great! This project took me 2 weeks, no sleeves and only one color so it went fast. Let me know what you think.



Next project will be a "cotton" Ballerina, same yarn in a different hue.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Posting for a member who can't join yet...

Here's a question that Natalie e-mailed me. She'll be joining after Becky gets back from her vacation and approves her. We've had some past discussions about the sizing, but perhaps people who have since finished have some inputs?

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I hope large is what I should be making. I'm short, but usually wear large sizes because of my bust and middle. I'm not sure of the bust size stated on the directions. Does this pattern already have built in ease? Meaning it will fit that bust size with enough room to spare for a person that size, or is that the actual finished bust measurement of the actual sweater?

Monday, July 17, 2006

Attention New Members

I will be out of the country from July 18-August 5. Feel free to send your emails requesting to join the knitalong, but I will not be able to send out your blogger invite allowing you to post until I get back. If you haven't heard from me by August 7 or so, send me another email since I know my inbox will be flooded and your message might get lost in junk mail.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

-Becky

Friday, July 14, 2006

Mermaid Spreadsheet Update v0.91

I just wanted to let everyone know what the latest version of the Mermaid spreadsheet was. I updated it last month and sent it out to my list of recipients (I've sent it to 122 people so far!). If you're new to the knitalong or to Mermaid, I've written a row-by-row spreadsheet for the medium size. If you want a copy, e-mail me and I'll respond with a challenge question to verify that you own the pattern. The spreadsheet is available in Excel and PDF formats, please specify which you prefer. I usually respond rather quickly, but have had some delays recently.

Myself, I'm just about finished with the body (after finishing once and noticing a change in gauge and having to rip it back). It's resting right now while I work on some socks and contemplate doing a summer top or two. But someday I'll work those sleeve instructions and test them out too!

Finished!

Custom Frances colorway:



Back with just a little Coral:



One-day sleeve:


I can't say I enjoyed wearing this for pictures today. It's hot! Definitely not the time for a wool jacket.
Finishing this was hard, once I realized I messed up the colors, I really lost steam. Now that it's done, though, I'm thrilled. I even mostly enjoyed making this. I knitted the second sleeve in just over one day. I wanted it done!

Things I learned in this project:
1. I-cord should be knitted with size 7 or 8 needles.
2. Begin knitting the body several ridges into the stripes, and when the body is finished and sewed up, knit the remaining 6 stripes and main color on as the collar to avoid a seam at the back of the neck.
3. No matter how badly you mess this up, you can recover.
4. Skip the slip stitches at the top of the garment (i.e. sleeve caps, collar). I ran this thing through my sewing machine, and was better able to match the ridges along the shoulder than when I tried hand sewing it. Because the slipped stitches were there, I had to have a larger seam allowance. This means I knitted two or three stitches per row for nothing. Ditto for the sleeves. Machine sewing with tiny seam allowances would have been fine with me.
5. I took the advice of others and shortened the sleeves by knitting-on 10 fewer stitches than the directions called for for the small. I'm happy with the length. Just be sure to make note of that on your pattern so that when you do short rows on the second half of the sleeve, you start at the right stitch.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Progress Report on another version of Mermaid



This is a wonderful knit, I just love the yarn, 100% cotton fingering weight. Actually sock yarn.

I'm looking forward to finishing this one I really like the electric blue.

Monday, July 10, 2006

One-Armed Hanne


One sleeve done. I really hate knitting sleeves. I will admit that in the past with most garments I've knitted the sleeves first so as to avoid this dreaded part. Once I sat down to do this, it actually went pretty quickly. I'd put off beginning a sleeve and knitted 1.7 blankets while the Mermaid languished. You can see in the right of the picture the remaining Rowan Denim that's part of the log cabin blanket I've almost finished. It's been nice to go back and forth between size 2 needles and size 8s!

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Finished a Modified Mermaid



No sleeves, some modifications, made of 100% cotton, delightfully soft and comfy. It turned out well.