NaKniSweMo 2012

NaKniSweMo 2012, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Done! With plenty of time to spare. I haven't done the math yet, but I cannot imagine that fingering weight on size 3 needles with extra stripes and increases added could not add up to 50,000 stitches!

It needs a good blocking... if you look closely at the above picture you can see the collar curling down a bit... or in this next one, the hem has flipped back up, in spite of repeated attempts to tame it:



In any case, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I kind of wish that the neck were a little tighter... but I'm pretty sure it's much better than my first attempt. I made a lot of mods, most of which were explained in a previous post.

The only thing that has changed since then was the addition of sleeves. Instead of binding off at the sleeve divide, as per the pattern, I put the stitches on holders. To achieve the sleeves I made, I finished up the last row of the grey stripe, added a blue stripe, grey stripe and another blue stripe, as per the pattern chart. I finished them off with a cuff done in the same way as I did the bottom hem.

Just in case you missed the info last time:
Pattern is: Elfe
Yarn is: Claudia Hand Paints fingering in Deep Blue (approx. 2.5 skeins) and Neighborhood Fiber Co Studio Sock in Grey (almost a full skein... there are a few bits left, but not enough to do anything with).
Needles: US 3
Raveled: here.

Swap Package Received!

Swap package, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Shockingly, my swap package only took a week to head across the atlantic and into the arms of it's new sock-loving owner. You've already seen it in bits and pieces, but above is the full package. Socks, of course, (pattern is by the seine river) yarn from Longmeadow Farm, soap, also from longmeadow farm, spinning fiber from purple moose felting (this was my "reward" for the WWFY socks... I knew that I wanted to get my swappee some spinning goodies and couldn't decide what I wanted for myself so picked this out for her instead), and an ornament made from my oh Christmas Tree pattern.

I'll be honest, she took much better pictures, so hop on over to her blog (in Spanish) to check them out!

Espero que te guste el paquete, vayque!

it FITS! [insert maniacal laughter here]

NaKniSweMo 2012, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Considering I was pretty much flying blind on this one (see: crazy amount of mods, listed below), I cannot believe it turned out as well as it did. I'm a little concerned about the rolling neck/hemlines but I'm hoping that a good solid blocking will sort that out.

Here's the next big dilema: the sleeves. I put the stitches on holders as opposed to binding them off because I wanted to make them longer. However, the added stripes to the body has left me with very little (approx 7 grams) of the grey left. It's more than enough to finish off the stripes at the tops of the sleeves (each needs one more round to match the stripe on the sweater) but I don't know that I'll get another full stripe (I'd need enough for 5 rounds on each sleeve) out of it.

I do, however, still have 32g of the blue left. So, I could finish the grey stripes off at the tops of the sleeves and then add as much blue as I possibly can to get a longer sleeve. Or just do the requisite number of rows for the next blue stripe (10, I believe) and then bind off/create a cuff like the neck/hemline.

Thoughts on the sleeve dilema would be much appreciated.

As for the pattern/mods/etc:
Pattern: Elfe
Yarn: Blue is Claudia Handpaints Fingering (so far 2.25~ skeins); Grey is Neighborhood Fiber Co Studio Sock (all but 7g of one skein)
Needles: US 3
Mods: - much smaller needles
- adding an extra purl round to the neckline
- jogless colour-joins
- using L colour pattern, but M cast-on and increases.
- knitting 9 rows (as per L instructions) before separating sleeves
- 23 rounds after sleeve separation (before waist shaping)
- waist shaping as per L instructions
- bottom hem: add extra knit row, BO purl-wise with colour B
- did not bind off sleeves, on holders to add length later

My version is raveled here complete with these mods.

sneak peak

Christmas Tree for a Swapee, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

You've seen the socks, and here's a small idea of what my swapee will find when they open their package... but this is it! At least, until it arrives...

Pattern: Oh Christmas Tree
Yarn: Handspun by Gekko
Needles: US 6
Time to make: less than 2 hours, including stuffing and sewing-up.

WWFY socks

WWFY socks, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

I completed the Will Work For Yarn socks, and early at that! I was really gunning to cast on for NaKniSweMo, but I knew if I did that first these would never see the light of day! They're still slightly damp, but I'm hoping they'll be dry enough to pack up and ship off this morning to their happy new home!

Pattern: Hermione's everyday socks
Yarn: Angora Yarns' Cotton Rayon in Magenta
Needles: US 0 dpns (had to go out and buy 'em... I didn't have any that small!!)

Raveled here with better lit pics.