Vogue Lace Coat Finished and Photograghed

Yes, the lace coat is finished! Knitted, blocked, and be-buttoned. It doesn't seem like such a big piece of work now that it is behind me. I think it helped that it is constructed in many little sections.

I'll give you a couple overall shots, and then we'll review the sections of the garment in the order they were made.

First the hem band along the very bottom was knit sideways. It has two parts which were done at the same time: the horizontal leaf band (on top) and the diagonal leaf ruffles underneath. The beginning edge starts with a funny extra half leaf on the ruffle:

which hangs awkwardly and I don't like it. I didn't know that was how it was going to turn out or I would have tried to do something about it. But I don't know what because it may be unavoidable with the way that the ruffly leaves are knit.

The ending edge is much nicer:

From the top of the that band, I picked up stitches and knit the skirt in the "day lilies" lace pattern:

I added one extra repeat of the lace pattern to make sure it was long enough. Before blocking I was worried that I should have added two or three more repeats, but after blocking, I think it is perfect. The skirt hangs open in the front as it's not really full enough to cover all around.

Next, the waist band was knit horizontally, and the stitches from the top of the skirt were knit together with the rows as I went:

The band repeats the pattern from the top of the lower hem band. I sewed the buttons on at the inner ridge, but I think I may have to move them to the outer ridge. They look a little off-balance here. (I'll wait til after Squam, however, since I'll be looking for better buttons. Depending on whether I find any, I can sew them on in the new position or move these. The eyelet trim along the front is used for buttonholes, so that's no problem.)

Once the hem is done, the piece is set aside and two sleeves are knit from the cuff to the underarm in a "daisy" lace stitch. I knit them two at a time so that I would only have to keep track of the chart one time. That worked well. When they are knit to the underarm, you put them aside and pick up stitches along the top of the waistband to knit the bodice. When the bodice reaches the underarm, the bodice and sleeves are put together on one (long) needle and the top is continued with raglan decreases for shaping.

I think it may have been better to switch to the smaller size for the bodice because it and the sleeves feel a little loose, but that's better than too tight. I debated on the size for a while. It's hard to know if this was the best choice, but it's definitely better than being too small.

I could have also added a few repeats of the lace pattern on the bodice to make it longer. When I thought of that (too late), I was surprised it would occur to me for the skirt but not the bodice, because I could use a little extra length there too. Oh well, lesson learned (I hope) for next time.

The front has a deep V neck and it's all edged with a thin eyelet trim. I did a loose bind off of the trim (with a yarn-over every two stitches to keep it very loose). It matches the stretchiness of the lace, which is what I was going for. But now I am wondering if it shouldn't have been a little tighter to give more structure to the bias V-neck edge. As it is, both halves of the bodice like to pull toward the arms, and a tighter bind off may prevent that. Maybe sometime when I am up to it, I will retry the bind off and see if it supports the shape of the front better when it is a little firmer.

The same eyelet trim is used on the hem of the sleeves, but it's so thin as to not be very noticeable. The sleeves are loose and are not holding the blocking very well. (The elbows are already stretched out after two wearings.) When I blocked the garment, I did not pin and stretch the sleeves (you may recall I did a rush job before work one day). I may re-wet just the sleeves and try blocking them again with pins to set the shape better. The trim could definitely be improved and I think blocking them longer (thus pulling in the width) will help with the fit. But it may all be for naught because alpaca and silk do not hold their shape like a good wool will do.

Time for a couple more overall shots for review?

I also make pretty shadows when I wear this!

And for a final word, let me add that I did not come near to running out of yarn on this project!! I used about one fifth of the third skein (out of four), which means I have about 1,575 yards of this lace to use up!! Maybe a matching shawl is in order...

Project Stats
Started: 05 Jan '13
Finished: 16 May '13
Pattern: Lace Coat by Brooke Nico (Vogue Early Fall 2012, pattern #1)
Materials: Garnstudio DROPS Lace, Light Camel Mix, 2.2 skeins ($29.85)

Buttoned Up

I sat down on Thursday night and went through all my buttons. They still fit into a coffee can, so not too bad of a job. I've got them sorted by colour and went through each colour, one by one. Although I was pretty sure I didn't want a green, blue or purple button, I couldn't be sure there weren't buttons in a very light shade of those colours that would work. So I looked, and sorted.

Every time I pull out my buttons, I sort them a little further. Matching buttons get put together and tied with a thread. Time consuming? Yes. Can I help myself? No.

I saved the metallic buttons for last because I thought they were my best bet. Ok, maybe that sounds backwards, but I wanted to give the other colours a chance.

There were a lot of shiny buttons so I was worried I wasn't going to find anything, but I did find a couple candidates.

From the green bag, a pair of green flowers:

They were from a previous garment and I really like them. But too green and too big for this project.

Next, some not too, too shiny metallic buttons:

Still a little too shiny for this project.

Finally:

Some metallic buttons that also came from a previous garment. They have a touch of green, but not too much.  The only draw back is that they are pretty heavy. I was worried they were going to be far too heavy for this lace garment, but it turns out I was wrong; they're fine.

I sewed them on to one side, and the open loops of the trim work for the buttonholes.

That's how I assume it's supposed to work. The pattern didn't really say.

Sorry to keep you waiting, but pictures of the finished garment will follow soon. I did wear it to knit group today and it got a very warm welcome!

Another Quick (and Exciting) Update

Remember that knitting group that is expecting to see my lace coat finished? Well, they're meeting this Sunday. So I realized I had better sit down and finish things up. I knew there wasn't much left to do, but I was so geared up for quilting and had that familiar feeling of not wanting to finish a project. (Not because I'm dreading the work, but I think because I don't want the project to end. Sort of not want to finish a book you're enjoying reading.)

Anyway, all that is to say it's a good thing I had a deadline to push me to finish. First thing to do was graft the underarm stitches. I had the stitches sitting on my very fancy stitch holders (aka paper clips), eight from the sleeve, eight from the bodice. I transferred the stitches to some double pointed needles,

and then grafted them together. When I finished the first, I tried to evaluate my work by looking at the graft:

I couldn't find it!! (Can you?). I gave myself an A.

Then it was time to work in the ends. It wasn't too bad. I try to minimize them while knitting, and that helps. Working in ends in lace is a little nerve wracking because there isn't really any place to hide them. One trick I used was to untwist the strand into its composite plies and working them in separately:

This way you spread the bulk around and even though you have double the ends to work in, they're each less noticeable.

I finished all that last night, and then this morning I got up early (thanks to Troy unfathomably having the need to talk to me at 7 am--doesn't he know better by now?) and blocked this baby.

Not surprisingly, I did a little bit of a rush job (and was still a little late for work), but I had always figured I'd be touching this up with an iron. I thought the hem ruffle would need the most work, but it looks ok.

I did try on the coat before blocking. I was very happy with the sleeves, which I thought might be too short while I was knitting them. Even though I added an extra repeat to the skirt, now I'm thinking I should have added two or three. And the waistband seemed to hit a little high, but that may change a lot after blocking. We'll see!

And the final thing: I need to find buttons. I've shopped around a bit, but not seen anything that I really thought would be good. On the other hand, I have yet to raid the big button jar, so maybe I already have something. The pattern calls for two buttons, placed at the top and bottom of the waistband, but I think it would also be nice with a row of maybe six or eight small buttons. I'd better find something quick...Sunday is a'coming!

Quick (and Exciting) Update

I have been working so diligently on my Lace Coat. It's almost like the ladies at the Sunday afternoon knit group told me I had to have it done by the next meeting to model it. Almost like I glibly said, "Oh that will be no problem" thinking the next meeting was in June. Only later did I realize they meant the next meeting, like the one in May. Oh. Anyway, I have been knitting on it.

Last Friday I had a young friend friend over who is working on her very first knitting project. She has 12 stitches going (well, usually. Sometimes we have to bring it back to 12 by tinking a little), and when I looked at the next step in my Lace Coat, I told her that I would have 353 stitches going (just to impress her). She was impressed. And so was I because that might be the most ever. Or not. Troy's sweater probably had more by the time I had the front, back, and both sleeves going. Anyway, 353 is still a lot.

Fortunately for me every other row had me decreasing 4 stitches, plus occasional decreases on the neck edge. So it wasn't very long until I had a more manageable number of stitches. And then not so long after that  when I had so few I wondered if I was going to run out of stitches before the required number of rows. But no. It all worked out and this evening I finished the bodice with exactly the right number of stitches: 53.

To  my delight I realized this means I have to pick up stitches on both front edges, knit four rows, and cast off, and then I will be done all the knitting on this project! Wow. I have to admit that when I realized that, first, I was happy. But then I thought, "This project was supposed to be epic. But now it's done. And it was the same as all the other projects...It got finished one row at a time. One stitch at a time." But I guess that's the only way any of them get done, isn't it.

So now I'm half way through picking up the stitches and have interrupted myself to tell you about it before it gets too late. This is one of the few times I am actually measuring and marking along the length so I can evenly balance the picked up stitches:

I do this simply by folding the length in half and placing a pin at the fold. Then folding each half in half and placing more pins. Etc. Until you have a small enough distance between pins that you can pretty reliably space out the number of stitches you have to put there. In this case I have to put five stitches between each pin. Easily managed.

This is quite different from my usual procedure where I pick up a stitch in each selvage stitch and then increase or decrease evenly on the next row to get the required number of stitches. That won't work in this case because the gauge is changing quite significantly. The bodice was knit on the smaller needles with one strand of yarn, and the edging is being knit on the larger needles with a double strand of yarn. So I pulled out the slower but more reliable method.

Here's the edge I'm working on:

Follow the top edge of this mass of knitting and you can see all the stitches I've picked up and knit on the right side and in the center. I still have to pick up the edge on the left marked with pins. And that's what I'm going to do right now. Toodles!

Lace Coat Progress

I've made good progress on the Vogue Lace Coat. Here is a shot of the skirt from a couple weeks ago:

Last time I wrote about it, the bottom band and ruffle were done, but I still had to pick up stitches all along the length and start knitting the skirt up from there.

In these pictures, I'm in the middle of the fifth repeat of the pattern. The pattern called for six repeats, but I went ahead and did seven. (Since I bought an extra skein of the yarn, I can do this without fear!)

It was looking a little short--even though I know it will block longer--and I am taller than average. If I were to err, I would rather do it on the long side. I still don't expect it to be past my knees. (We'll see.)

From there I had to do the waistband, which is the same lace pattern as the bottom band (minus the ruffle). You leave the skirt stitches live on the needle, cast on the stitches for the waistband, and then make your way across, knitting one stitch from the skirt together with one from the band on every other row.

When I cast on the stitches for the waistband I did the same trick as before and did a provisional cast on:

Later I can take out the waste string and either cast off the stitches to the tension of my liking, or use the stitches live to knit the narrow button band that comes later.

Similarly, I did not cast off the stitches at the end of the waistband, but put them onto a stitch holder:

They are patiently waiting for me to decide whether to cast them off or use them live for the band. (Obviously I will do the same on each side, but I'm not sure which way to go yet.)

Up next are the sleeves, and I've been taking a little break from lace charts before I do that. One day I almost started them, but when I realized I first have to wind another skein of the yarn (875 yards!) it was enough to deter me. The sleeve lace pattern is not charted but written up in row-by-row instructions (which I hate), so I'm also deciding whether it's worth making my own chart again. (I know, I know, it is. But I don't feel like it yet.)

So there you have it. I feel like I am making good progress and will certainly have it done in time for Squam in June. Most likely, I will have it done to wear for the first nice spring weather. What a lovely thought.

In Which I Think I'm Clever

I've been working on my Lace Coat pretty steady. I have picked up 197 stitches along the straight edge of the hem band and started what the designer calls the "day lilies pattern." (I'm half way through the second repeat, and it's starting to look like it could become a skirt, rather than like a long odd scarf.)

In the pattern, the day lilies pattern is written out and not charted. It has a 16-stitch repeat, so it's not too bad to read the pattern the "long way" but I do prefer charts. I decided it was worth the effort to make my own chart in Excel. I've done this before and used my own symbols for the stitches, but it's easier to use standard symbols that I'm used to.

Enter this amazing knitting font which has knitting symbols instead of letters (and includes a handy chart so you can know which keys to press). I downloaded the font, made a chart, and then saved the chart as a pdf so I could load it onto my new Kindle Fire. (I'm very excited about that part!)

But I took it one step further...I actually saved several copies of the chart where a different row is highlighted on each one. That way I could not only more easily read the stitches, but I could also keep track of which row I'm doing. When I restart the Kindle, I can tell which pdf file I last used and that will tell me which one I need to do next. Here's a shot of the chart for row 3:

I only made charts for the odd numbered rows since almost
all the even ones are just purling. I didn't include a complete key
because I'm familiar with most of the symbols. I just added a
reminder above the chart for the symbols I may not remember.

So now I not only have charted the pattern, but I have made it easier to read, portable, and provided a way to keep track of what row I'm on. Clever, no?

Lace Hem Band Competed

Stage one is complete:

The lace hem band is finished. I gave the piece a "half block" (I wet it but didn't bother to pin it out.) I just wanted a rough idea of what it would look like and of the size. It measures a little long but it's in the ballpark. I expect to lose length when I properly pin it and stretch it widthwise.

I like the leaf pattern and leafy ruffle. It might sound funny to say that when I've seen the coat and already know I like it. But it's easy to see the whole in a picture in a magazine without seeing all the individual parts. Like, for instance, I don't actually like the extra half leaf at the beginning of the border (bottom-most right leaf in picture above). I can tell already that that part is not going to hang right no matter how well I block the ruffle. But it's at the very beginning, so there's not much I can do about it.

Here's a closer up:

The part on the top of the photo will have to get some carefully detailed blocking. I won't be able to lay it flat so I think I'll have to do it bit by bit on the ironing board. We'll see how that goes...but that's months off! I don't have to worry about it right now.

I had some trouble casting off the lace loosely enough until I remembered reading about some kind of yarn over bind off. I didn't bother going to look for it online, but just experimented on my own. This is what I came up with:

You can also do a yarn over on every other stitch only, and the tension will be between a regular bind off and doing the yarn over on every stitch. I think doing it every stitch would be too loose for most applications. You may recall that I started this lace strip with a provisional cast on so I could go back and bind off the stitches later. There would be no way to cast on stitches as evenly and be able to adjust the tension without taking out a lot of knitting. (If the cast off isn't right you can easily take it out and adjust it--I've did it several times in this case.)

Up next? I have to pick up stitches along the straight edge and start knitting up the skirt. But I'm waiting for the right size needles to arrive. (Remember I ordered 40 cm length instead of 40 inches?) I ordered new ones a few days ago, so they should here soon!

Progress Report (Day 2)

After writing my last progress report, I worked on the bulky cable vest. I figured out the length issue and ended up taking out a few rows of the front, but not much. I joined the back and front at the shoulder seam with a three needle bind off.

Once they were joined, I continued knitting the two side cables, attaching them to the stitches I left live on the back neck edge. At the end of each row I knit or purled the last stitch together with the stitch from the back. It got pretty awkward at the center back, but still manageable.

Once all the stitches were picked up, I grafted the two ends of the cable trim together. It happened to fall on a cable row so I exchanged the position of the stitches on the needle and then grafted as normal.

It's too bad it looks a little clunky where the cable twist changes direction at the center back, but there's not much you can do about that if you want the twists to be a mirror image on the front.

Once that was done, I picked up stitches around the armhole, but didn't start to knit them.

I paused here because I want to try it on and see how it's going. And that also pretty much finished my night. Football was done and it was time for some sleep. (BTW, it looks like I will have plenty of yarn for this. You don't need to stay up at night worrying about it any longer. Not that I was...)

The next day in the car, I started with the lace coat. I started chart 2 and got the first repeat done (24 rows):

You can see the left side is "longer" than the right side.
It will form the ruffle at the hem.

Only nine more repeats to go!

Right now it's a lot of work because I am consulting the chart on almost every stitch. But after the first repeat of the chart, I'm starting to recognize some patterns. It's sort of like starting to write. At first someone tells you to make a line from top to bottom and then to draw a circle beside it but just touching the line. You follow the instructions piece by piece, and when you're done you look at what you made and recognize a "b." But with a little repetition, you start to recognize that the "b" falls into a whole family of letters with circles and lines, like "a," "d," "p," and even "g" if you just add a hook at the bottom. That's about where I am with this pattern, just recognizing the patterns between the different parts.

Once the pattern is learned, it's easier to knit without constantly looking at the chart. You can "read" your knitting and know what comes next. You can see that you're working on the leaf, and what part of it you're on. Do you need to make it bigger or smaller at that point?, etc.

I'm not sure I'll get to the point where I will be able to knit this lace pattern without the chart, but I can already tell that it's getting easier. For now, it will not be something to work on during football games, I can tell you that!

About the time I finished the chart, it was getting dark enough to make chart reading more difficult, so I pulled out the sock I had packed. In the hotel the night before, I had tried it on and decided it was long enough to start the cuff. I cut the black/white yarn, joined the red, and knit one row (so there wouldn't be any colour blips) to set it up for the next day.

In the car I started a 1x1 rib and got this much done before my hands were tired from the small needle work and it was getting dark enough to make it hard to see the stitches.

Do you think I made it long enough?? Ha ha. It really shortens a lot when I put it on because it has to stretch around my calves. I'll do a good 3" of cuff, I think, and they will be just right for knee socks. (That's 3" when I'm wearing them. That might be as much as 5" unstretched.)

Then I still did not stop knitting because I don't need to see much to work on the bias scarf, so I did a few sections of that. Then it was truly dark and my hands/body were tired enough to want to stop. Troy drove the whole way again, so I had plenty of time to knit, knit, knit!

Once home, unpacked, and settled in for some Downton Abbey, I picked up a new project. While in Guelph, we stopped at Len's Mill, a general merchandise store that carries tonnes of yarn and fabric. I walked through the aisles and couldn't believe the sheer quantity of yarn that they carried! A lot of it was acrylic so fortunately I could just skim those aisles.

I did pick up a couple balls of crochet cotton, and then I saw the Phentex. What a blast from the past. I've never seen it in the States, but it's a completely horrible fake yarn that feels a lot like plastic twine. But it is what we all used for slippers growing up. And many still do. Well, my own slippers have been taken down by the latest round of home improvement, so I picked up a couple of bright cheery colours and started on a replacement pair:

Progress Report (Day 1)

Ok, so I had a day of traveling in the car--just what did I get done of my ambitious packing?

1. I finished the front of the bulky cashmere vest:

I knit both the left and right sides at the same time (with two different balls). But when I was supposed to have 15 stitches on each side, I had 15 on one and 17 on the other. I worked out that I hadn't bound off two stitches at the armhole--right back where I started the day!!

So I ripped back the one side and did it right. Fortunately it was only about 20 minutes of extra knitting. It's a little ironic that part of why I do both halves at once is so that I can do the shaping at the same time and get it to match...

I didn't like how the cables that run along the neckline looked in the pattern so I changed them somewhat.

Instead of crossing every 4th row, I did it every 6th row. I like it better than the pattern, but I think it may have even worked to do it every 8th row. I don't want it to look much more twisted than the main braid cable. The two side cables will continue around the back and form the back neckline. It's a neat design feature.

I got to the point where I couldn't be sure whether the front was the same height as the back. It was impossible to measure accurately while in the car. I think I may have knit the front too long so I'll have to figure that out tonight so I can continue tomorrow when I'm back in the car.

2. Once I decided to put that away, I pulled out the lace coat. I decided to start with a provisional cast on over a long end:

Once I'm done this section, I'll pull out the tail (picking up the stitches) and cast off with the tail. As stated in a recent post, it's easier to get a neater and correctly-tensioned cast off than cast on. It's not really a lot of extra work either, so totally worth it.

I discovered that I ordered the wrong size needles. The "size" is correct (diameter), but I was looking for a 40" cable needle so that I could use the magic loop method on the smaller sections of the coat (like sleeves). Well, 16" cable needles are apparently 40 cm. So when I saw "40" and ordered them, I got about the shortest needle you can get. And I wanted the longest. The good news is that I can use them for some of the sections (like the hem band, which is the first piece). Of course the bad news is that I will still have to buy the longer needles.

The other good news is that these needles are more comfortable than the interchangeable set that I have. I've never like circular needles, but maybe I just don't have the right set yet.

The knitting itself went pretty well and I completed the first chart (24 rows) before it got too dark to comfortably read the chart:

The yarn doesn't really feel like much in the strand, but it sure is lovely to knit with.

3. Once I put the lace away, I pulled out the no-thinking-needed shawl and did a couple of sections before we arrived.

Well, three out of four projects worked on and I still have the trip home tomorrow (and time tonight while watching some football playoffs). Apparently my packing wasn't so out of line after all!

Ready to Go!

I wasn't particularly excited about a car trip this weekend (although I wanted to go), and then I remembered...car knitting!! So tonight I set out to be prepared.

First, I wound two balls of lace for the lace coat:

Don't tell anyone, but I'm not going to swatch. I'm usually close on gauge and to do an accurate gauge swatch would require so many stitches, I may as well get the coat started. I'm not afraid of ripping back if it becomes necessary.

I wound two balls because part of the pattern needs to be worked double stranded. I decided if there is any colour difference between balls it would be safer to work with two balls than to work from two ends of the same ball and then have a sudden change when I had to start a new ball.

I've printed the corrected charts from the Vogue Knitting website (advantage of not being the first one to knit the pattern), have my new cable needles, and should be set to go.

I also have my vest ready for some new work. I have ripped out and reknit the back. It is looking much better:

Next I'll continue the front. Since it has a single fairly simple cable, I expect it will go pretty quickly and hopefully without incident. Of course, there's always more shaping with the neckline in the front, but nothing that should slow me down.

And for the times when I don't feel up to thinking, charting, or keeping track of where I am in a pattern, I can continue on my bias scarf:

It's coming along nicely. I wondered if the gauge is a little tight, but I think blocking will loosen it up enough. If not, it's alright.

And just in case, I'll throw in these socks too. (You never know.)

Squam Planning Begins

First big project of the new year? The lace coat from the Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2012 issue:

I've wanted to do it since the issue came out, but knew it had to wait until I was done the commissioned sweater. And then there's the busyness of Christmas, so I figured it would wait until the new year. But it's getting to be that time, and now I've decided this is going to be my big Squam project. Like when people knit their "Rhinebeck" sweater every year. (That would be a nice impressive bit of knitting to wear at the hugely popular Sheep and Wool Festival held in Rhinebeck, NY.) But I'm not going to Rhinebeck, I'm going to Sqaum.

First up was to chose the yarn. I wanted to stick with the alpaca/silk blend of the original yarn, but in what colour? The pink is nice, but not really what I wanted. The same brand (that's Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace) also came in a neutral beige/tan called Blithe that I considered:

I also looked at Knit Pick's Shimmer Lace in Buttercream:

It has a little more variation in the colour, but I thought it wouldn't clash too badly with the lace pattern. There are only two projects on Ravelry that use this colourway, but one of them was a large lace shawl that showed very well what it looked like knit up. (What did I do before Ravelry??)

I considered Malabrigo's Silkpaca in Sunset:

but decided it was a bit much. (I looked hard at Malabrigo because I know and like their yarns and can get it at my LYS, but their colours were all either too dark or too cool. All the beiges and light colours are very washed out. Not what I was going for.)

What I settled on was Drops' Lace in Light Camel:

I'm hoping it will be a warm neutral, not too dark but not so light as to disappear on my pale, pale skin. All the prices were pretty similar so that didn't influence the choice significantly, but this yarn also happened to be on sale, which is nice.

It's being shipped from California whenever the shop is next open and I will be waiting for it eagerly! I don't think I've ever spent so much time looking for yarn for a project. I think I tend to do projects based on what yarn and pattern come together serendipitously. I don't remember having to search so hard for the right yarn. Or maybe I usually settle for what's easily available.

I will also add that three skeins of the yarn probably would have been enough, but I bought four. (And they are huge, so that is going to be a lot of extra yarn.) But one thing there won't be with this project is Fear Of Running Out Of Yarn. Not going there with this one!

____________________________
Update: I got an email that they shipped it the same day. Apparently they weren't closed for Christmas yet. Woo hoo!