July 30, 2005
♥ Phildar Cotton Jacket. 99.99% done! ♥
Apart from weaving in two measely ends at the neckband and sewing two more eye and hooks, this lovely jacket is very very near completion! I'm jumping the gun a little and posting as complete because the day after tomorrow I'll be moving and life will be chaotic for a few days. I imagine that this jacket will get worn, unlike some other pieces that I've knit! I'm really really proud of this jacket.
Pattern: Phildar Printemps 2003
Yarn: Phildar Aviso
Started: last week of March 2005
Finished: first week of August 2005
I did make a few slight modifications to the pattern. I lengthed the body and sleeves to accomodate my tall figure! I couldn't get the correct gauge on the recommended needle (5 mm) so this was knit on 4.5 mm needles. During this project I learned how to cable without a cable needle. That was a nifty trick that will surely be useful in the future.
When I first saw this jacket at Fluffa a few years ago, I knew that I'd love to knit it. However at the time I was still a pretty new knitter. I'm so happy to have tackled this project. It makes me feel like I'm ca(pa)ble of anything!
Posted by loriz at 07:05 PM | Comments (14)
July 18, 2005
Let the seaming begin!
Posted by loriz at 11:02 PM | Comments (1)
May 27, 2005
Slowly plugging away
I need a blocking mentor!
What now seems ages ago, but was only two weeks ago, I set the body pieces for my cotton jacket to block. I gave them a good soak in the bathroom sink, followed by a roll in the towel. Then I pinned the pieces directly on top of plastic. Now I haven't have any knitting teachers, nor am I feeling keen enough to read about blocking techniques, but I think I learned from this endeavour that pinning the pieces directly onto plastic might not wick the moisture away as quickly as say pinning the piece to the carpet. The latter was my standard technique at my old apartment however, the carpet here is much less squishy and less likely to accept pins. It took those babies close to a week to dry. I'm lucky there wasn't any mildew growing on them!
What is your preferred method of blocking?
I had an unfortunate discovery when I pinned the front pieces side by side. I had made a mistake! To ensure that I made indentical decreases at the neck edges I worked both pieces until those decreases were required, then I finished neck decreases on the same day. In my excitement about finishing the body, I neglected to remember to reverse my twisted stitches on the right front! I'll be reworking those few inches because it bugs me every-time I look at it!
Since setting those pieces out to block, I've finished 18 cm of one of the sleeves (the bobbly section). I'm going to work the second sleeve to the same place before moving on. I've never worked the sleeves simultaneously. In some ways it seems the progress is more slow...but I know that in the long run I'm going to appreciate it!
Posted by loriz at 04:59 AM | Comments (3)
May 10, 2005
Feeling quiet
I can see for miles and miles and miles. Oh yeah. The Who.
I've been working away on my Phildar Cotton Jacket. I'm just about finished one of the front pieces. Here is a shot of the completed back piece. I lengthened the body. Looking at Becky's completed Cotton Jacket, she only did 6 cable repeats before casting off. But I have the distinct impression that Ms. Skinny Rabbit is also a Petite Rabbit. The pattern called for 38 cm between the cast on edge and the armhole bind off (that would have been 7 cable repeats for me), but I opted for more coverage! I just hope that its not too long!!
And one more shot of the details...
I can say that this is not my only project on the go and that has caused some mental anguish for me. Seriously. Its hard to feel productive when you only knit a few rows on a project at once. This week Adele posted about needing focus to finish a project. I think I need focus to not starting more projects. Lately I find I'm more interested in starting than finishing. Well, is like one of those things, once you see the problem its easier to fix right?
But there is also a bit of a yarn diet going on. I could not flash my stash on April 1st as I was out of town however, I did take some photos of my stash when I returned. I didn't want to post them because I had mixed feelings about how much yarn I've accumulated. Its bothersome. Why do I need to keep on buying yarn? It really takes resolve to be a knit blogger and not be tempted by all of the fabulousness that I see on other sites. I think that I'll be able to knit for months with the yarn that I currently own. Its interesting how it makes blogging less fun that I won't buy yarn right now. Fascinating....
Back to the books.
Posted by loriz at 05:26 AM | Comments (5)
April 22, 2005
More on Phildar Cotton Jacket
Two weeks later...I'm 38+cm along. Wanna zoom in??
So, I've been working on my Phildar Cotton Jacket. The pattern is from the Spring 2003 Tendences magazine. My first time around knitting the back of the jacket didn't go as planned. I was WAY off gauge. The whole project calls for 17 skeins of Phildar Aviso. I had ordered (from Breiweb in the Netherlands -- good serive!) 19 skeins originally, however I've since ordered an additional 4 skeins (in the same dyelot) because I'm terrified of running out of yarn. This is one yarn hungry project. I can get two cable repeats on the back done (about 10 cm) with one ball of yarn. Extrapolating my yarn usage up, I figured that ordering some more yarn was a good idea.
The first time around, when I knit the back, my width was short of 50 cm by a cm or two. In theory, for the size that I am knitting, it should be 55 cm wide. That is why I frogged it. This time around, its 52 cm (when I do not try to stretch it at all). I feel ok with 52 cm, which is why I haven't frogged a second time. I'm about 1 to 2 rows short (in 10 cm) on the row gauge, but I'm not sweating that one!
The pattern says (for all sizes) knit the back straight until 38 cm are complete and then start the armhole decreases. I decided to give the back another repeat (~ 5 cm) before starting the armhole decreases. I obssessed a little about whether or not one pattern repeat was enough. I decided that yes, it was. Let's see how it turns out.
I've found since working on this complicated project I have little desire to work on my sockinette cardigan that I'm working on. It just seems so boring. I do however crave sockinette socks right now. Strange no?
Posted by loriz at 05:44 AM | Comments (0)