The Great Snowflake Sweater of 2012

After a good blocking, the sweater looked and felt much more finished. The wool felt softer and everything set itself as it should. The pattern sat flatter and evened out.

I think I mentioned before that I blocked the sleeves about as wide as I could stretch them.

So I had my fitting with the client (and his mom, the purchaser) and that went well. We met at the knit shop, sort of neutral territory and, as it turns out, about half way between where we each live.

He tried on the sweater and....it fit. He seemed very pleased with the design. He wanted snowflakes and he got them! He did comment that the sleeves were a little snug, but not too tight, and they were just the right length since he often has cold hands and likes a long cuff he can fold up or down. The length of the body was a little longer than he specified but it wasn't so long it gave him problems. (He hates when a sweater interferes with getting into pockets.) So all was good. His mother, when asked for a comment, simply said, "If you're happy, I'm happy." High praise indeed.

But don't worry...all the ladies in the knit shop let loose with compliments. (I had checked the class schedule and thought I picked a time when there wasn't one going. But no, when I got there, there were 6 or 7 people there.) Amy, the owner, had been primed to "help" if needed, but the fitting went well and faster than I thought it might. I took the sweater home with me to do the final finishing of working in the ends, etc, and mailed it out yesterday. Done.

I was too chicken to ask the client to let me take pictures (and even more shy with the audience there), but I managed to press a friend into the task. The sweater was a little more snug on him than the client, but I think it fits well enough for you to get the idea.

This was the best picture of the lot, but I blurred it because I was giggling too hard:

I snapped it before he even thought we had started. There were a few of us in the room and we were all giving him a hard time and having some fun at his expense. All in good fun, of course.

Now for some statistics...

I tried hard to track all my time on this project for my own interest's sake, but I'm sure I lost track of some of it. That is to say, the real number could easily be higher, but it couldn't be lower. I divided the time into four categories and the hours spent in each are:

Planning (meetings/emails with client, designing sweater, fitting): 16.5 hours
Swatching/blocking/finishing: 4 hours
Knitting: 62.25 hours
Ripping out: 1.25 hours

For a grand total of 84 hours to make a sweater. Hourly wage? (You really want it?) Just under $3/hr. Mental anguish: priceless.

Project Stats
Started: 18 Aug '12
Finished: 2 Dec '12
Pattern: personal design (with client)
Materials: Knit Picks Swish DK (11 Dusk, 4 White) $67.35
I've had quite a few people mention this project and say things like, "I guess you'll never do that again." (Especially my mother who I think has been feeling my pain.) But I don't agree. I guess that's one sign that I'm complaining too much.

But I also think that not everything worth doing is going to be easy and fun. And usually when you do something for the first time, it is not easy or fun. (Ask the high school student I work with who is being forced to learn to drive a stick!) But only by doing it will you get better at it. I'm not really sure I want to do this again, but how would I know unless I tried it? That is my take on it. Considering the horror stories out there and possible ways things could have gone wrong, this went pretty well despite the unstructured (and never ending) planning process. The client got a sweater that fit and I got paid. Many transactions like this don't end that well!

And I may have a client for life...while we were doing the fitting, he asked me about making some fingerless mitts for his cold hands...

Ok, one more shot.
(See? Now you're giggling too.)

A Finish?

I realized I've been reluctant to share that I finished the Snowflake sweater last weekend. I don't really understand the reluctance, but maybe it's because I can't be sure it's done until the client accepts it. Or maybe it's just that I only get excited about things I get to keep? :)

I have the sweater blocked to size, but haven't done the finishing of working in all the ends. If I have to adjust the length of the sleeves or body, I don't want to have to find the ends I've woven in. I'm pretty sure the sleeves are going to be too long but I hope everything else works out. I sent an email to the client early this week and we're trying to find a time to meet up the week after Thanksgiving. We'll see how it goes...

Getting Close to Finished

Here's how my Snowflake Sweater is looking these days. Yup, getting pretty close. I started the sleeve cuffs tonight and I'd say they're about half done. Only thing left then is the collar. And I'll probably do a little duplicate stitch on the pattern where the sleeves and body meet. But more on that later.

This was about my last chance to show you how I do my sleeves two at a time:

It's the same thing I did with my Whistler sweater sleeves. Doing them this way saves on trying to make the second match the first one; and you spend half the time counting between decreases because you only have to do it once for both. Of course, you waste a lot of time if you do a sleeve wrong, and you have to remember to do all four decreases on the rounds (two for each sleeve). It's easy to miss one.

So how does it work? You knit the first half of the stitches from sleeve A onto a cable needle and then (with a separate ball of yarn), you knit the first half of the stitches from sleeve B onto the same needed. Then with a second cable needle, you knit the second half of sleeve B's stitches and then the second half of sleeve A. You then proceed to knit in the round on the two cables, making sure to use the right ball of wool for the right sleeve. I tuck my balls into the actual sleeves, which not only helps to keep them from getting confused, but also does a bang up job of keeping the strings from getting tangled. It's brilliant. I can say that out loud because I didn't think of it myself.

And why do I have two gold needles and two green ones? Because I don't have four needle tips the same size. Since I use an interchangeable set, I can set up a cable needle with the proper size tip on the right side, where I'm knitting the stitches (and determining their size) and a size smaller tip on the left side, where it doesn't matter what size it is. So in the picture above there are two cable needles each with a gold tip and green tip.

Ok, now that I am this close to finishing, let's have a little contest...I invite you to make a guess in the comments here of how many hours I will have spent knitting (and ripping) on this sweater by the time I finish. Don't worry about the time spent planning or pattern making, just the straight knitting. Leave your guess in a comment and you know I'll let you know how it comes out in the wrap-up post! Good luck guessing...

Things on my Mind

Here's how the Snowflake sweater is looking tonight:

I got through the colourwork on the first sleeve,

(it was a bit of a slog, but perseverance came through for the win)

and have gotten a good start on the second sleeve:

When I tried it on to test the fit (and take pictures), the sleeves felt more snug than the body of the sweater. I know that the sleeves are tighter now than they will be after blocking because of the colourwork, so I trust it will all work out. I mean when has a gauge swatch ever lied? (ha ha--nervous laughter)

The other project I've been working on has hit a crisis of indecision. Or maybe I should say crisis of changed-my-mind.

I've been working on this blue and green scarf and really love the colors and the look of the brioche stitch. BUT I've come to the realization that the person I'm making it for doesn't wear long scarves.

My original idea was to add some subtle shaping so that the scarf would also work as a hat in a pinch. I figured it would make it an easy accessory to grab and use for whatever the weather threw at you.

But I went a little crazy, maybe, and the first half of the scarf hangs practically to my knees. I wanted enough length to make sure there was enough to wrap around your neck, but I'm realizing it's just too long.

So now I don't know what to do. I love the yarn; it's perfect. But what to make for someone who really doesn't use hats, mitts, or scarves? Do I press on just because it's pretty? Pretty, but useless--is that really what I want to give as a gift? (Well, that sums up a lot of things sold as "gifts," if you ask me, but I still don't like it.)

On the bright side, I've gotten pretty good at a two-colour brioche stitch. (That's not really making me feel much better though. I wouldn't mind taking out this scarf if I had a good idea of what to do instead. As it is, I'm just frustrated. Sounds like it's time for a time out for this scarf.)

The other thing I've been doing the last few days is working on my raveled sweater stash. It's part of a recently renewed process of decluttering around here. Instead of just putting it in a closet and doing stuff that maybe I "should" be doing (like knitting a sweater which needs to get done), it "had" to be dealt with. So I tore apart sweaters, raveled the yarn, balled it up and labeled it. There were also three sweaters I decided I would never do anything with or didn't need (like the third red cotton one) and so I donated them back.

(In the following pictures, the real colour is usually closer to the one the right, if you're curious.)

307 grams of wool/angora/nylon blend:

I wore this last winter and it was ok, but I was done with it and the neckline never was very comfortable.

219 grams of cotton:

I wore this for the summer since "tangerine tango" was picked as the colour for 2012. It didn't quite fit right, so I didn't mind raveling it. It's a lovely colour and probably still will be in 2013 (or whenever I use it). ;)

517 grams of off-white cotton:

Is there dying in my future? Who knows...but if there is, I'll be ready with this on hand!

425 grams of red cotton:

(Check out the details on those sleeves!)

441 grams of bright pink cotton:


314 grams of a silk/rayon mix:

What a hideous style this sweater was. The yarn, however, is a really nice warm wheat colour; not too yellow and lovely. And silk...I'm a sucker for silk.

350 grams of a wool/acrylic blend:

Normally I wouldn't do acrylic, but this blend is washable and a lovely soft pink. It'll be good for a baby or child item.

285 grams of silk:

It's hard to photograph the colour, but it's a really nice teal.

So it's all rolled into cakes, wrapped up and stored away. And no more piles of sweaters in my living room!

I really don't know what I'm going to do with all that cotton--I don't use it that much besides the dish clothes that I make while walking (which hasn't been happening all that often). But it's all I've been finding to ravel and the colours are very seductive.

With this project off my mind, perhaps I'll get to some of the other stuff that needs to be done!

Putting on my Thinking Cap

I have not been working on the snowflake sweater for a few days now. (Ok, five days if you're going make me get specific.) It's not that I've been avoiding the sweater, but I've needed some time to sit and work out how I'm going to do the sleeves.

They need to be done top-down, which is already something new for me. It means all the trickier important shaping is done right up front. It occurred to me that it's easier to start a sweater or a sleeve from the bottom because once you get to the tricky stuff you have a lot of momentum behind you pushing you on. Of course, if you get all the tricky stuff out of the way first, the rest should roll along like an avalanche.

So tonight, I shut off the TV for a bit and made some notes so I could think. And I came up with a plan of attack.

1. Pick up stitches all around the sleeve opening.

I could have knit the sleeve separately and sewn it in, but I was really attracted to the idea of a no-seam, no-sew option. It seems more elegant. And I would have feedback on fit and size as I went. (And I just wanted to see if I could do it.)

I picked up a stitch for every selvage stitch. I'm a big believer in picking up every stitch and then adjusting the number of stitches on the next row. You can always decrease or increase evenly across the row to get what you need and it makes for a neater pick up row. (Never mind it makes the pick up row almost mindless!) In this case I picked up 76 stitches and had figured out that I want to end up with 78. I couldn't believe how well that worked out!

2. Knit across the twelve stitches centered over the shoulder and turn. On each subsequent row, knit one or two extra stitches and then turn. I set up a plan of a certain number of rows adding two stitches and then a certain number of rows adding one stitch, to make sure that all the stitches around the armhole opening are used up in the right number of rows. To make this easier both to work and to keep track of where I'm at, I have kept the picked up stitches on one cable and am knitting across the rows with a second cable needle.

When I get to the end of the row, I just knit one or two stitches as needed off the "holding cable."

And with an hour or so of knitting, I have a nicely crafted sleeve cap:

I have never done this before and feel like I am making it all up as I go, but I dare say it's going to work!

Only a few more rows and I will be adding the colourwork to the mix. (But remember, after that it'll roll like an avalanche...get out of the way then!!)

Snowflake Sweater

I promised you an update on my commissioned sweater, and here it is!

Front

I slipped the stitches onto a pair of cables and tried it on myself. It'll block a little larger, but the size is close enough for me to get a rough idea and to take pictures.

I have a little bit further to do on the bottom and then I have to start the ribbing. I'm going to do a 3x3 rib because the client doesn't want it to pull in a lot. It's the same rib I used on Troy's cable sweater and I like how it turned out.

Back

I think I've said this before, but I really feel like I've turn the corner on knitting continental. Since I finished the colourwork, I have just been whipping along in continental and my tension is really consistent. I started a new ball of blue wool on Thursday night, and already finished it this morning. That was about three hours of knitting. Maybe the balls are smaller than most, but that seemed really fast to me. (Of course it also made me panic about whether I have enough wool, but I really think I do. It was just startling to get through it that fast.)

I had been keeping notes about my time in Ravelry, but this weekend I transferred them to an Excel spreadsheet. I found out that I have spent
-15 hours in communicating with the buyer, planning, and pattern design
-2 hours on the swatch
-1 hour ripping back, and
-37 hours actually knitting.

I also added a formula to report my wage; it's updated with every entry I make. I'm right around $4.50/hr right now and probably about half way done the knitting.

It helps to not think of it as a job that pays $4.50/hr, but as a hobby that pays $4.50/hr. How many of your hobbies make you any money??

(But don't think about it too long. I'm not sure the argument holds up.)

You Can't Afford Me.

That's my standard response when people ask me to make things for them. (You know, when you're knitting in public and they "joke" that you should make one for them, sometimes even if you've never met them before.)

In the same way, I have put off anyone who says that I should "make money" at knitting. They obviously have no idea how many hours go into a project and how cheap it is to get "something just like that" at Walmart.

Despite all this, last fall when the owner of the local knit shop had someone come in that wanted a sweater knit, she game me their name. I put it off for months (fall being my busy time), but at some point called and said we could talk in January when I had more time. I also named a ballpark price in our first conversation to see if that was a deal breaker. It was not.

Through one thing and another, our meeting was postponed until February. It turns out that she used to knit sweaters for her son (and others), but now her hands are not up to the task. For Christmas, she wanted to get her son a hand knit sweater, and I was going to be the one knitting it.

From there, she directed me to her son to ask him what kind of sweater he wanted. He was surprised by this and completely unprepared. We exchanged emails for six months to finalize a pattern. We did not find any ready-to-go pattern and worked on making one of our own. The process was both interesting and painful. I think I used up all my wages in email/design time and am making the sweater for free. But even with the price I named, I knew this would not really be a money maker. It was an experience I decided to try. A new sort of challenge.

The real problem with all this is that I am now committed to knitting a big sweater during my busiest season. I put them off last fall because I was too busy to even think straight, and here I am the next fall. Need I remind you I work for a haunted house? Busy time--it is now. (Although I try not to think about it, we open in less than two weeks.) Plus it's canning season. I could be doing a lot more with the garden right now.

Anyway, I do knit all year. I just have to do "thinking" knitting now, even when I come home fried from nine hours of go, go, go.

On the plus side, the client decided on an alpaca blend and it is quite lovely to work with. A little warm, but I'm not one to mind that too much. The first picture above is the swatch I did last spring and emailed the client pictures of. He didn't like it exactly, so we had to adjust from there. I finally got the go ahead on July 31st with our revisions and have been working on it quite a bit since.

So much so, that I have this much done---->
Unfortunately when I remeasured it, I found out the armhole is too large and I'm going to have to rip it about half way back. That means I redo all the colourwork. despair

There are a lot of long floats in this pattern, too. Tricky, yet I thought I was nailing them. But they will all disappear. sadness

So if it seems like I haven't been doing anything but little projects around here for a while, this is why. I have been saving myself for this big project that I kept thinking was next in line. Now it's here and taking all my knitting time at home. It's sometimes hard to get myself started on it, but once I get going, the colourwork  carries me along. Then I just have to stop myself from worrying that I'm making it the wrong size or that it won't fit in the end or any of the other million things I can worry about while making a sweater. (Just like my grandmother, who at one point told me she couldn't knit things for a particular person because she worried too much about whether it would fit and whether they would like it.) Send me good thoughts--I could use them!