Archives for July 2011

I think this is the fastest I’ve ever knit a pair of mittens: I started my cabled mittens for my Camp Loopy project at about 8:00pm Saturday night and finished them almost exactly 24 hours later: Sunday night at 8:00pm!

These mittens are my own design, knit from Madelinetosh Tosh DK in the “Kelp” colorway on a U.S. size 5 needle. They were a fast (obviously) and fun knit. I used 1 skein of yarn with just a bit left over.

On Sunday afternoon I took time out from mitten-knitting and spent a couple of hours finishing up my lace tunic.

I decided that the neckline was a little too loose for my liking (I had done a very narrow garter-stitch neckband), so I did one row of single crochet around the whole neck to stabilize it. Perfect! Just what it needed!

This was knit from 3 skeins of Hand Maiden Swiss Silk — a 100% silk fingering weight yarn. I used three skeins — just under 1300 yards. The tunic is 30″ long and 56″ around — way over-sized, which is exactly what I wanted.

It has long sleeves, dropped shoulders, and a deep vee-neck. I’m writing up the pattern (in 4 sizes) so it will be available soon.

I really love this sweater and plan to wear it over a sleeveless black dress, or black cami and pants. Crappy in-the-mirror shot:

And if you’d like to see it in person, I will be wearing it on Saturday, August 27 at the book release party for Wendy Knits Lace at my LYS, fibre space so you can stop by and see it in person!

The party is from 1 – 3 p.m. and I’ll be signing books of course. I’ll have some very special friends with me, and a trunk show of all the designs from the book!

fibre space
102 N. Fayette Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 664-0344

You can reserve a copy of Wendy Knits Lace ahead of time, or if you are unable to attend the event, you can order a copy from fibre space that I will sign for you. Call the shop at 703-664-0344 to order a copy. And check out fibre space’s Events Page for more details.

All the info about the event is on my Travel and Teaching page as well. I hope to see you there!

I’ve started another project, of course.

Details on Thursday!

And Lucy is working on a cat-nap.

This pile o’ knitting is my lace tunic.

Next time you see it, it will be assembled and actually looking like a sweater. Honest!

On Friday night I finished the first sleeve and attached it to the body via a three-needle bind-off — I picked up stitches along the edge of the body and bound those off with the live stitches at the top of the sleeve. I’ve picked up the stitches along the other side and finished the second sleeve last night. So sleeve attachment will take place this afternoon.

Then all that remains is a final steam-blocking and sewing up of side seams.

I started my Campy Loopy Project II last night:

As you can see, this is a cabled mitten. I’m using Madelinetosh DK in the “Kelp” colorway and U.S. size 5 needles. The pattern is my own design.

That’s about it for today. Lucy has been checking the tv listings as she plans to relax and watch movies all afternoon.

“Do you see anything you wanna watch, Momma?”

I spent all the past week thinking that today was the day we could start our second projects for Camp Loopy but I finally looked at the calendar and it dawned on me. Today is the fourteenth. We can start on the fifteenth. Ah.

It is just as well because I was thinking I wanted to just continue on knitting my lace tunic for a while since I am on a roll. I finished the front, attached the front and back at the shoulders via a three-needle bind-off, and picked up and knit a very narrow garter-stitch neckband.

I’ve done a rather deep v-neck because I’m planning on wearing this over something else — a black dress or cami.

And I’ve started a sleeve.

I will probably start my Camp Loopy at some point over the weekend. We have a month to complete the Camp loopy project and that’s plenty of time for me to knit cabled mittens in DK weight.

Lucy is resting up so that she will be wide awake for scary stories around the campfire this weekend.

Have a great weekend!

I am about an inch away from the point on the front of my lace tunic where I divide the stitches for the v-neck.

Doing decreases for neck shaping in an all-over lace design is enough to give one the shakes. So I charted out my decreases using Excel. Here is the template I used:

(If you click on the picture you can make it bigger to see the detail.)

ETA: Ignore that extra decrease on the left side — that’s just an error — a stitch I neglected to erase from the chart in making the template.

I haven’t filled in the lace pattern on this template, but when I do, it will represent the center three repeats of the lace pattern I am using. The front of my sweater has an odd number of repeats, and the decreases extend beyond the number of stitches for the center repeat, hence three repeats are charted for the neckline chart.

The chart shows the right side rows only — I will be decreasing one stitch at each neck edge on every right side row. I have filled in those neck decreases. Now I just need to fill in the lace pattern. Having the decreases all charted out like this helps me figure out how far I can extend the lace pattern on each row. No fuss, no muss!

I don’t know about you, but I find it mildly annoying when I have a pattern that has a repeating motif that just tells you to decrease “x” number of stitches at the neck, adjusting the pattern to accommodate the decreases. I just don’t like to think that hard while I’m knitting. 😉

Lucy is currently not into thinking hard either.

I have finished the back of my lace tunic — see?

The lace pattern shows up better against a dark background:

I have all the stitches resting on lengths of yarn, divided into three sections.

Each side will be bound off with the front in a three-needle bind-off, and the center group is the back of the neck, to be knit up into a narrow neckband after the front and back are attached at the shoulders.

I’ve started work on the front.

Meanwhile, a gratuitous shot of Teddy.

Teddy had been on an extended vacation since I haven’t knit a sock in a while. He was beginning to wonder if I had fired him as my sock model. I have however promised him a new gig as a mitten model, so he is posing with my Camp Loopy yarn. He starts next weekend, after I get started on my next Camp Loopy project, cabled mittens.

Lucy says hello.

She wanted you to see her perfect little nose in profile.