Completing the Look: Part 1

Once you finish a project you're going to wear, you need to think of what you can accessorize it with. I had nothing that I thought looked good with my Pioneer Tshirt so I jumped at the chance to stop by my favourite not-quite-local bead shop.

I wanted something fun and casual. (There's no need to try dress up a Tshirt!) And I was going to keep it simple.

I've been stuck in my beading lately, trying to do too much (without the skills to do it), and finally realized that people have been stringing beads in a simple line for eons; and if it was good enough for all of them, it was good enough for me!

What I found at the store were some pink-and-white and mint-green-and-white beads that I really liked. I alternated the colours, and used some larger oval green beads in the center, moving up through three sizes and shapes to smaller green ones at the ends. The pink beads are the same throughout.

My very favourite beads are the medium sized green ones. They have a twist that is just irresistible.

I used a different material to string the beads. Tired of the crimp beads fraying the string (even Kevlar string), I used a small wire cable. ("Stainless steel nylon coated miniature wire cable; 3 strand, .015 diameter" if you're curious.)

It has enough flexibility that it hangs appropriately, but enough strength that I'm not worried about it coming apart.

It also simplified putting on the clasp. The thicker cable is more secure in the crimp bead so I just threaded it through the clasp and then back through the crimp bead. Crimp, cut it short and done.

And how does it look with the Pioneer?

Pretty good, I think. The bead colours are brighter than the pinks and greens in the shirt, but it works. I like the length, and the necklace hangs nicely.

I wanted to add a bit of history about the bead shop I like. I had been there a couple times before I noticed a little frame hanging on the back of a door.

In it was detailed the history of the builder and long time resident of the house. I don't remember all the specifics, but this was a woman who had gone to college in the 1910's against the wishes of her family. She worked for a time but then moved back to her hometown to take care of aging relatives.

She decided to build her house and did exactly that. She did every bit of work on the house except the electrical work.

Does that put the items on your "to do" list in perspective or what?!

Pioneer T-Shirt

My Pioneer is finished and I have been wearing it all over town. It fits like a dream.

I got to debut it at the summer Sip n Knit meeting last week. As I recall, three of us had them done and on and more were getting close. (Didn't have my camera, but there's talk of a "Pioneer Get Together" later when more are done. I'll snap something then.)

It's knit from a washable wool. The wool has been very comfortable (not itchy at all) and not too hot even on warm days. (Naturally, I didn't try it on hot days.) The washability will make it a very easy care item and allow me to wear it worry-free all the time.

The back is decorated with three columns of narrow cables.

The same cables run down the side seams:

This is where I made my biggest modification. I tried on the shirt when I was just below the sleeve opening (remember I started at the shoulder) and it was way too tight under the arms. So I took it out and then cast on 6 stitches on each side to widen the sleeve opening there.

I'm not sure if that means I cast on too small a size but everything else seems to fit ok so I'm just going with it. If I did cast on too small a size, however, it could explain why my V neck is a lot higher than most others'. (But again, I'm just going with it.)

The neckline is finished with a crochet edging:
The pattern wanted you to alternate a single crochet (sc) with 5 half double crochet (hdc), but that didn't produce enough of a scallop for me. So I shorted the sc to a slip stitch and lengthen the hdc's to double crochets. I liked that a lot more. I also did a row of slip stitch around the edge first which helped to neaten up the selvage edge a lot.

I chose shorter sleeves for my T (10 rows vs the 14 in the pattern) and shortened the edging as well to maintain the balance.

As I said, the shirt wears very well. I have been having some trouble finding colours to wear with it. White is definitely out as it makes the shirt look down right grubby. (This is just an excuse to buy more clothing, isn't it?)Project Stats
Started: 21 Jun 09
Finished: 1 Aug 09
Pattern: Pioneer from knitty.com (free)
Materials: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Multi in Michigan Cherry Blossom, 4 skeins @ $11 = $44

Not to be blunt, but I don't think this is the nicest looking garment I've ever made. As I was looking at pictures I took of me in it, I could tell there are times it makes me look downright frumpy. And I'm still not convinced variegated yarn is the best for garments. In this shirt in particular, the lines of horizontal colour seem to conflict with the vertical lines of the cables.

That being said, it was a lot of fun making it with the other "Red Purl ladies." And since the colour was dyed just for Amy at Red Purl, I'm very happy I used it. (And not to be misleading, let me state I do like the pink, green and brown combination.) I would make my Pioneer again, and in the same yarn.

There is more to a project than the final product!

One Final Vacation Post

I lacked an internet connection the last few days of my vacation, so let me sum up:

1. I finished the body of my Pioneer while sitting in the sun looking at the in-law's horses and cows and enjoying the company of their dog, Reba. She couldn't take the sun as long as I could, but sat as close as she could in the shade. She's was good company.

The edge is a sort of elongated seed stitch with two rows of K1 P1 that line up, and then two rows of P1 K1, repeat. Seed or moss stitch can "spread out" compared to stocking stitch, so I did some decreases before I started the edge stitching. I was going to aim for 10 per cent (a la Elizabeth Zimmermann) but it worked out better to decrease every 9 stitches. As long as I ended up with an even number of stitches so the pattern would work. I think it worked to keep the edge pulled in instead of stretched out.

I did not bring supplies to do the sleeves, so I had to put it aside.

2. I dug into my argyle vest as long as I wasn't in a car:

I got past the division for the neck and have started that steek (at the top--where you see the hole and yellow string). Things are moving along well but I am impatient for a darker red to show up.

3. I did get bored enough with the other projects that I started the lace scarf I had brought supplies for:

Here you can see the bottom border is done, and I'm barely into the main pattern.

There was a mistake on the pattern which pisses me off. After a lot of time was spent one evening figuring it out, I put it aside and went to bed. The next morning I actually backtracked and fixed the problem.

I've learned my needles are not really sharp enough for lace knitting, but I'm not sure I'm going to buy new needles just for lace. We'll see.

And the Christmas surprise? Let's see...I finished the yellow and orange unit referenced in Saturday's post. And one more just like it while driving around with Peggy on Monday.

She's running a sort of taxi business for some of the local Amish and I tagged along to the produce auction. I knit as we drove, and later in the day when we were waiting for the auction to finish I worked in the ends of all the units I had knit. Phew! was that a lot of work.

It needed to be done, however, and is not the sort of thing I can do while driving, especially on the crazy hilly and curvy roads of Missouri. While knitting I can look up and around me, but not while sewing in the ends. That would make me sick right quick.

After dropping off the passengers and produce, Peggy and I headed to a nearby town to enjoy some lunch and shopping in "olde time" shops. I did manage to find a fabric shop and picked up a nice red fabric. (I tend to buy for specific projects and don't generally build up a "stash" but I've been picking up reds here and there because I know I'll always find a use for a good red!) We had a good time.

On the long trip home, I got next to no knitting done. For one, I was tired and could hardly think straight. For two, I did a lot more driving.

We stopped to visit my sister who lives right along the way and I had a great time while she had "show and tell" with all her recent projects. I really wish I had remembered to pull out the camera and capture the 20 hats she's knit over the last year. She heard that the local library collects them for a cause. They lost their "big knitter" two years ago, so I'm sure they'll be glad to see them!

On top of that, she's been making bags and purses out of "found" fabrics (yard sales, second hand stores, etc). They are looking really good. And sorry again that there are no pictures; you'll just have to take my word for it.

Ok, this is long enough. We're home and I have to get back to work. First up: laundry and then some canning. I suspect a lot has come up in the garden while we were gone.

PS: I want to give a shout out to Myrna who dropped by Tom and Clures' and mentioned that she likes the blog. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you!

Pioneer Progress (and Regress, I'm Sorry to Say)

I've had to do some backtracking.

I tried on the Pioneer this evening and decided it was too tight under the arms. It also seems short even though my row gauge is right on. By short, I mean that there wasn't enough length in the raglan shaping to give the ease I needed under the arm, and the low V neck is not very low. The way it looks now I could wear this shirt without a cami or tank. That's ok with me, but it's certainly not how it's designed. I'd wonder if I'm making a size too small except that the width around seems to fit so well. I guess this is why I try things on and get to make adjustments.

Before doing any adjustments, however, I had to take out about 14 rows to get back to where the sleeves are put onto waste string and the front and back start getting knit together at the side seams. I could just tink one stitch at a time (tiresome) or frog it boldly (risky with all those yarn overs and knowing where to stop). With the shortcomings of those two methods in mind, I decided to try something else.

I took my needle and picked up the stitches of what I believed was the last row before the front and back were joined:
Can you see the cable needle in there? It's right below the red curved line. [Click on the pic for a larger view.] I still have just a few stitches to pick up on the left side.

And how did I pick them up? I just consistently picked up one of the top loops of a row from the wrong side:
So in the above pic, I was putting the needle through the loops marked with the black curves. I did pretty well...considering. With the twisted cable stitches, yarn overs, and going from the different pieces of the front, back, and sleeves, I did not exactly stay on the same row all across.

To put it bluntly, I made a big mess. Of course, just raveling* 14 rows from two different balls will make a huge tangled mess (which it did), but I also had sections where I was 2 or 3 rows off and had to "knit up" quite a number of stitches in a row. And fix some of the cables.

But, as I say, knitting is not for the faint of heart, and this was nothing that a concentrated 30 minutes couldn't fix. I'm still glad I didn't tink it, and I think if it were a straight patch of stocking or garter stitch this method would work great.

After I got everything back on the needles and knit a row to straighten out all the stitches, and cast on a few extra stitches in the underarm (my current solution, assuming it works), I took a picture so you could see:
I know it looks small and wrinkled, but can you make out the sleeves on either side? And the front shaping coming to a point in the front? And of course you're looking at the wrong side of the back and you can see the vertical stripes made by the purl stitches on either side of the twist columns.

So, ok, there's a progress report. Sorry I mostly had bad news but you can be happy you're just reading about it and not living it.

Now I must get back to knitting and see if can regain some ground on the 14 rows I just lost. (Wait, I knit one already, so only 13 more to go...)

-Clickety clack!

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*According to dictionary.com, ravel and unravel mean the same thing. And given a choice, I'll take the least adorned version of a word any time. As a bonus of looking this up, I found out that the root of ravel is Dutch from an obsolete word [ravel] meaning loose thread. [Go, go, pride in Dutch heritage.]

Sip n Knit KAL

This afternoon I joined a nice group of knitters at the Stein and Vine next door to Red Purl. We sipped and knit the afternoon away, most of us working on Pioneer, a Tshirt published in knitty. Besides being a nice pattern, it was also chosen because it is available in a wide range of sizes.

The wool I wanted to use, in Amy's custom colour, Michigan Cherry Blossom, did not arrive until Friday and I didn't have time to pick any up before today. I went in early to the shop this afternoon and found out Amy had held some aside for me since she knew I was planning on this colour. So nice of her! You see why I keep going back.

I bought the four skeins I needed and wound them into pretty little balls. And then set to casting on and getting the pattern set up. It took some concentration and counting to get it done correctly, but it was accomplished. Soon after, the party moved over to the Stein and Vine where we were graciously served drinks and could help ourselves to delicious snacks they provided.

Most of the group were working on the Pioneer. Almost everyone had a unique colour, and they all looked so good! There was much discussion about gauge and needle size. It will be great fun to see how all these Pioneers look as they are finished!

I am working the pattern without major modifications. I may put in some waist shaping, but that can wait until I get there.

I am changing the method of the C2B (Cable 2 Back). [I've also seen this called a Twist Right; it's just a right-leaning cable done over two stitches.] The pattern describes a method using a cable needle--it's ok, but rather ungainly compared to the following method which yields the identical result much more easily (and quickly):

Insert right needle as if to knit 2 together:Knit the two stitches, but DO NOT pull off left needle:
Now insert right needle into first stitch only:
and knit it:
Now pull both stitches off left needle:

Voila!

When you look closely you can see how the two stitches are now twisted and lean to the right. In this pattern, this is done five times on every other row. That's a lot of reaching for the cable needle.

Using this method saves a lot of trouble and helps you to maintain the rhythm of your knitting. I've certainly never looked back since I learned about it. (I can't remember exactly where I read about it, but there's a good chance it was on the TechKnitter's very worthwhile blog.)

Clickety-clack!

PS: If you're wondering, my wrist is feeling much better and I'm back to knitting at almost my regular rate. I'm so happy...and much more pleasant to be around again.