Queue Check — the UFOs of 2018

by
Queue Check — the UFOs of 2018

Somehow tomorrow is 2019 — which means the start of the Steekalong — so I’m here today to confess about the knitting projects that were spontaneously started and not finished this month. While Bob’s vest parts were blocking, and again when it was awaiting seaming and I had a flight to catch, I unintentionally cast on two more black stockinette projects. So this is also known as The Tale of the Black Blobs.

The first (upper one) is the evolution of the idea of knitting another dickey in the black Wookfolk Luft. Rather than simply knitting Grete again, I got inspired by the Flying Solo, plus a simple funnel shaped stockinette cowl I made and gave away the first year I was knitting, plus my neverending thoughts about dickey possibilities. And what I originally cast on has grown and changed and seems not done changing yet, so I’m not sure where it will wind up. Maybe it will be a garment before I’m done! But wow this yarn. I wasn’t sure I would like it and I don’t — I love it.

I took the first 8″ of it with me on my flight to Palm Springs for my birthday, only to realize I had brought everything but the yarn. Fortunately, I had brought a back-up knit: a Carbeth Cardigan to cast on. My hope, honestly, was that the cowl-dickey-whatever project would occupy me for the trip and I’d have packed the back-up unnecessarily. But as soon as I sat down on the plane, I discovered my mistake. So really, I had no choice!

If you’ve been reading, you know how much I’ve been debating with myself about the color and yarn for the Carbeth. I so loved Shannon’s off-black one, but I have a cropped black cardigan (but I’m forever on the fence about that one) and it would be so gorgeous in the toffee OUR Yarn, but then would I hate myself for not making it black? And if I made it black, what yarn? There’s the OUR Yarn in black, but for this particular garment, I wanted it less black. One night it struck me that I could hold something together with it, and that in fact I had enough black Pebble left from my striped sweater to do the job. So I knit a swatch and it’s lovely. The Pebble lends a bit of lightness and heatheriness, and I matched row gauge and am only slightly off on stitch gauge. So whether it’s defensible or not, it is now on my needles.

I’d hoped to finish one or both of them before the year came to a close, but my workload has not allowed for it — not to mention the difficulty of limited late night knitting time with three black stockinette projects to choose from! Needless to say, my Sólbein will not be black.

(Fringe Town Bag and Lykke needles from Fringe Supply Co.)

.

PREVIOUSLY in Queue Check: November 2018

Top posts and highlights of 2018

by
Top posts and highlights of 2018

The single most popular thing published on the blog this year was the Log Cabin Mitts pattern, which made me grin from ear to ear, while the Improv top-down sweater tutorial is still the most visited page overall. Other big winners were the Fringe and Friends Logalong kickoff and Summer of Basics kickoff, the Steekalong announcement and color palette suggestions, and Slow Fashion October. But beyond patterns and big events, the most popular single posts were a fun little mix:

Top 5 posts published in 2018:

1. Daniel-Day Lewis’s gansey (and the ensuing pattern suggestions and historical background) 
2. “World’s softest helmet” — the Pinterest hit of the year 
3. My tutorial on how I sew elastic waistbands 
4. Q for You: Do you keep a knitting journal? 
5. And a post I’d completely forgotten about the Olympic beanie knockoff patterns

Top 5 posts from the archive: (same as last year, in slightly different order!)

1. Improv: Basic pattern/tutorial for a top-down seamless sweater
2. Joining sweater parts at the underarms: Here comes the fun!
3. Pullovers for first-timers: Or, an introduction to sweater construction
4.Fringe Hatalong No. 1: Audrey by Jessie Roselyn
5. Mitts for Miss Casey aka Super Simple Mitts

My personal favorites/highlights:

I enjoyed every single thing about the Logalong, getting to see so many of your faces at Stitches West, my first 10×10 Challenge, seeing Jane Adams holding a Field Bag, teaching (and more) at Squam, committing to my mini Bullet Journal, talking breed-specific yarns with my friend Brooke Sinnes, and I am incredibly proud of this year’s Slow Fashion October. To mention but a few.

But clearly the highlight of 2018, for me personally, was my trip to Portugal — meeting Rosa and her hand-spinner, touring the wool mill, attending the sheep blessing, and every other precious minute of that remarkable, horizon-expanding trip.

And it’s also been an incredible year for Fringe Supply Co. Thanks to you and your support, there are — by my calculations — 146 families around the world receiving life-improving fiber animals through Heifer International, due to our (yours and my) donations and Heifer’s matching campaigns. That is truly incredible, and I’m so eternally grateful for the opportunity to be the conduit.

So that’s 2018 in a nutshell. I’d love to hear from you what your favorite posts or moments were! Thank you so much for the time you’ve spent here in 2018, and I’m looking forward to more great debates, challenging knitalongs and so much more in the new year!

(Speaking of Heifer, these are tough times for a non-profit, with so many disasters and crises diverting charitable giving this way and then that. I’m assuming that’s the reason why Heifer is facing a funding shortfall at the moment. If you believe in the work they’re doing to fight poverty and hunger around the globe, and can spare even a few dollars, please do take a moment to make a donation!)

.

PREVIOUSLY in Year-end: Favorite New Favorites, Sewing Year in Review, Knitting Year in Review

2018: My knitting year in review

by
2018: My knitting year in review

By the time the calendar blows over to January, I’ll have completed 19 knitting projects, which is a lot for me, but almost half of them were Log Cabin Mitts! When I came up with this pattern back in January — my contribution to last winter’s Fringe and Friends Logalong — it was one of those magical manifestations where you wonder where on earth it came from. I said at the time that they felt like the only truly creative thing I’d ever done, and I’m still so amazed at how beautifully the pattern worked out — and how fun it is to play with — that I have no intention of ceasing to knit them, even having finished 7 pairs this year: the originals (free pattern here), grey, black-and-white, toffee, black-and-blue, verb kit and indigo. (Grey and black-and-blue have been given to friends but will likely be replicated for the collection, which still feels like an art project in process.) The toffee pair live in my jacket pocket and are worn on the regular, but the black-and-white ones are my favorite rendition so far.

2018: My knitting year in review

Overall, it was a year of accessories knitting for me. In addition to the mitts, I made four hats for my sister’s family, for their spring break ski trip: grey Lancet, blue 1898 Hat, ivory Første, yellow ScandinAndean Earflap.

2018: My knitting year in review

Then there’s another hat that’s never been blogged because it’s a pattern I’m supposed to be writing, plus my Hozkwoz hat from the Fringe Marlisle Knitalong. So a total of 6 hats. And of course the cable dickey I haven’t been able to shut up about either before or since knitting it.

2018: My knitting year in review

And then there are the sweaters. Four ostensibly for me: the Sweatshirt vest, ivory aran-gansey, plum Anna Vest and blue Bellows Cardigan, which I don’t think I’m keeping. And the fifth, the final BO of the year, will be Bob’s vest. I’m just finishing up the bands and will write it up as soon as I’m done!

2018: My knitting year in review

The dickey and matching toffee mitts are easily my most-worn, best-loved wardrobe additions this year, and the ivory Første hat is one of the most stunning things I’ve ever knitted. And in addition to the Log Cabin Mitts, I also designed a second mitts pattern this year: Cascara Mitts for Tolt’s anniversary collection. I can’t add them to my tally because I have only knitted 1 mitt for the sake of writing the pattern (plus two more partials for teaching purposes), but I love those mitts and will be making myself a completed pair in the future.

Log cabin and marlisle were both new techniques for me this year, as were the clever construction on the 1898 Hat and mosaic knitting, which was used for the unseen pattern-to-come hat. (Oh wait, there’s one more secret hat — a sample for someone else’s pattern that also involved a way-new technique!! Tell you more about that when I can. So that’s 7 hats, and 20 finished projects in total.) I also got to knit quite a few cables and did some experimenting with the earflap hat and the sweatshirt vest. And published two patterns I’m proud of. Not to mention finally getting the Anna Vest published as an individual download. Phew!

All in all, a pretty good knitting year!

.

PREVIOUSLY: 2017 Knitting year in review

2018: My sewing year in review

by
2018: My sewing year in review

Last year (2017) was a year in which I really pushed myself into new territory as a sewer — sewing my first button-up shirt and even a pair of jeans. It was a thrilling, horizon-expanding sort of year. By contrast, 2018 was … well, the opposite.

My big adventure was supposed to be my navy-and-black linen Carolyn Pajamas for Summer of Basics — a challenging sew for the top, and the fun of piping on both top and bottoms. When the shorts were looking absolutely stunning (but way too small), I realized I really wanted to do full-length pants instead, and wound up off on a tangent that resulted in pants, modified shorts and a Wiksten Kimono (now known as the Wiksten Haori) in three different striped shirtings from my stash — a hodgepodge of coordinating pj parts. In the end, I’m happy enough with them, and wear them all, but still really eager to do the fancy navy-and-black duo.

For the rest, the results overall are mixed. On the one hand, I made the most-worn garment in my closet: the natural canvas pants I wear literally 3 or 4 times a week and have taken on all but one trip this year (that one being Squam Lake, where they didn’t go for obvious reasons). The recycled denim pair are worn pretty regularly, but I somehow don’t have the same level of adoration for them. On the other hand, I made the puffy short-sleeved Linden that’s already been given to a niece, followed by the long-sleeved Linden that I inexplicably cut on the cross-grain, so it stretches top to bottom instead of side to side. It doesn’t stop me from wearing it, but it does make me feel like an idiot every time! The jury is still out on the linen-cotton Carolyn pants — we’ll see if they make it into rotation this spring.

The most fun I had sewing this year was (once again) a refashion: the unfinished Clyde Jacket I had scored at last December’s Elizabeth Suzann sample sale (abandoned before its sleeves were attached) and converted into a vest. I LOVE this thing, and really enjoyed solving the puzzle of how to work with the existing style lines and seams to get the garment I wanted:

2018: My sewing year in review

But the bottom line is that I want to have a lot more fun sewing in 2019 — both in terms of using/pushing my skills and in what I use them to create. More on that to come—

.

PREVIOUSLY: 2017 Sewing year in review

Merry and bright

by
Merry Christmas, Fringe friends

Whatever Christmas day means for you — from church and a big family gathering to a quiet day to knit and chill — I hope this one is filled with peace and joy for you. I’ll be trying to knit the edgings onto Bob’s sweater vest before we go eat turkey enchiladas with dear family-friends, who I hope will help me decide on colors for my steekalong sweater!

Have a merry day, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow—

(Waxed canvas Fringe Field Bag and OUR Yarn from Fringe Supply Co., as seen in the winter lookbook — and that’s my Grete in progress!)

.

Favorite New Favorites of 2018

by
Favorite New Favorites of 2018 - best knitting patterns

Of all the years, this is one where I feel most dramatically like WAIT! I haven’t even knitted anything from last year’s Favorite New Favorites yet! I’ve gone back to the patterns on that list over and over this year, and several I’ve continued to go on about during 2018, and yet somehow it’s already time to look back through this year’s and pull out the ones I most fervently want to not lose track of.

It was a really good year in knitting patterns, better than I even realized. To scroll back through the year’s New Favorites (which I recommend!) is to witness a lot of ingenuity and beauty, and yet there are loads of things I saved on Ravelry that haven’t even made it onto the blog. (Yet.) Trying to narrow it to the ones I simply admired the most, I was at risk of putting about 40 or 50 patterns into this post. So I decided to limit myself to just 12 patterns for the year: the ones I’d most like to actually knit and have. Which also means this could function as a queue for the coming year — if only people would stop with the new distractions!

BUT FIRST:

Simply based on how many times I’ve typed the words Carbeth Cardigan this year — and the fact that I did cast one on during my flight to Palm Springs last week — it’s clearly the pattern that bored the deepest hole into my brain this year. And then there are the ones I actually made: Grete and Hozkwoz.

And now the dozen …

Best sweater knitting patterns

SWEATERS
top: High Neck Pulloverby Tomoko Noguchi (as seen in Turtleneck season) 
middle left: Ridgeline Wrap Cardigan by Purl Soho (as seen in Those collars)
middle right: Breakwater Beach Vest by Irina Anikeeva (as seen in Way back to school sweaters)
bottom: Moosonee Sweater by Tara-Lynn Morrison (as seen in Wearable superbulky)

Best wraps knitting patterns

WRAPS
top: Ellsworth by Scott Rohr (as seen in Clever garter colorwork)
bottom left: Two-Point Cowl by Churchmouse (as seen in Two-point cowl)
bottom right: Wallace by Julie Hoover (as seen in Under wraps)

Best fingerless mitts patterns

MITTS
top: New Year’s Mitts by Veronika Jobe (as seen in Colorwork mitts)
bottom left: Weekend Walking Mitts by Dianna Walla (as seen in Quick Knits: Fingerless mitts)
bottom right: Tredje by Irina Anikeeva (as seen in Textured mitts)

Best hat knitting patterns

HATS
top: Tamitik by Shannon Cook (as seen in Quick Knits: Hats)
bottom: Adam by Rachel Atkinson (as seen in Quick Knits: Hats)

What were your favorite patterns this year — the ones you don’t want to let get away from you—

.

PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Sock season

Steekalong prep: More than one way to knit a steek

by
Steekalong prep: More than one way to knit a steek

Here’s the thing about knitting: A finished object is a destination, and a pattern for that object is a map describing one route for getting there. You always have the option of choosing your own route! In the case of the Sólbein Cardigan — the featured pattern for the upcoming Fringe and Friends Steekalong — the route described in the pattern includes a sewing-machine reinforced steek with a full tutorial for how to do it (partially glimpsed above). There have been many people wondering if that method is a requirement, and it absolutely is not.

I’ve put the following few questions to Mary Jane Mucklestone about the Sólbein steek and what alternatives are available, so you A) are not scared off if you don’t have a sewing machine and B) can consider your options even if you do! We’ll dig a little deeper once the knitalong is in full swing, but I wanted you to have this information before you cast on—

. . .

The Sólbein pattern includes instructions for the sewing machine method of reinforcing the steek before cutting. Is there any particular reason why you wrote it for that method — is it your personal favorite?

I chose the sewing machine method because it’s what you see most often in Iceland. A line or two of machine stitches nails down all the strands without creating any additional bulk, another reason I chose it. I actually love to reinforce with crochet, a slip stitch catching 1/2 of two adjacent stitches. It’s really pretty and it helps the cut ends fold under. It does cause additional bulk, so for Sólbein I might use a finer yarn, maybe fingering weight. I’d choose a color to blend with the selection you’ve made, anything super different could possibly show through to the front. Personally I’d use whatever I had lying around that matched, which would be Shetland wool or sock yarn.

For those who don’t have a sewing machine, what are some of the other steeking methods they might research? And is any/every method an option here, or is there anything about Sólbein that would rule any of them out?

You can do the crocheted steek like I mentioned above, or hand stitching with sewing thread is also an option, I find I have to be really careful to make it pretty, but it works. I know it’s hard fitting a sewing machine into your knitting bag!

[ . . . TA DA! Mary Jane has even helpfully posted a tutorial for her preferred crochet steek method on her blog! . . . ]

Does Léttlopi really even need any reinforcement for the steek, or could a brave soul just go for it?

I think because we’re knitting at such a loose gauge it’s a good idea to reinforce the steek. If we used a tight gauge and more stitches for the steek, just leaving it and doing nothing could possibly be an option.

Having asked that, and having read the pattern, I will confess I’m actually slightly nervous (by which I mean excited!) about there not being more of a “bridge” of stitches to cut through. As written, one is literally cutting straight up the gutter between two columns of stitches. Would you counsel against anyone who might feel tempted to throw a couple of extra stitches in between?

Well in Iceland they’ll often just have a single purl stitch as a steek. So I was being cautious using two. I’ll admit it makes me a little nervous too, but like you, at the same time thrilled. It’s nice because there is really no bulk, just enough left to be a tidy little selvage. I wear my Sólbein a lot and nothing bad has happened to it. All those Icelandic knitters can’t be wrong! But that’s not to say you can’t add more stitches if it helps you feel safer and more comfortable.

.

PREVIOUSLY in Fringe and Friends Steekalong: Mary Jane on choosing yarn

Photos by Carrie Bostick Hoge, used with permission