jeshknits: the blog!

September 2010
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Knitting Mojo

Jun 162010

I haz it.

$tessera before collar (by jesh\)$
I don’t know what occurred between last month (which was full of knitting fail) and this month (which is already almost at two finished sweaters). Did Mercury leave retrograde or something? Whatever the reason, I’m glad that it’s happened. And I really, really love this sweater. I love the hem, I love the neck, I love the cables up the sleeves.

I really, really love the ultra-fitted seamless shoulders:

I have a problem with a lot of store-bought clothes (and handknit sweater patterns, really) with there being far too much fabric for my narrow shoulders—but that’s the glory of designing! I can make my shoulders as short as I want! So I did. (The pattern will have shoulders sized to fit normal people, and of course I’m always happy to advise on adjusting the fit.)

All that’s left now is to graft up the underarms, come up with a plan for the shawl collar (I’ll do those today), knit the shawl collar (tomorrow), and then give the whole thing a good block and hopefully get rid of the curling at the hem. Then I’ll enlist the help of my trusty tech editor to make the pattern go, and you can have one too.

Just in time for the middle of summer! Because I’m all about seasonally appropriate knits.

How Fast

caturday, design, knitting 4 Responses »

Jun 122010

can I knit this sweater? Can I finish it in another week? That’s going to be about all the time I have before work begins on a secret project with a tight deadline that I really need to meet.

Fortunately so far I haven’t hit any major roadblocks—the sleeves are done
$sleeves (by jesh\)$

and while out tonight (er, last night, at this point) I worked up a swatch of the motif that’s going to appear at the hem.
$hemlace (by jesh\)$

I had to make some minor adjustments to it so it’ll flow well on the actual sweater, but I cast on and worked the first round and it looks like it’ll fit just fine. But I’ll never get it done in time if I don’t go knit it, so I’m off to see if I can knock out a few more rounds before bed.

But before that, because we haven’t had Caturday in forever,
$cow kitten (by jesh\)$

Sweater Wednesday

FO, design, knitting 1 Response »

Jun 092010

I don’t know what’s gotten into me. After a few days of total knitting burnout, all of a sudden I am all sweaters all the time. I cranked out a quick test knit for (surprise!) Laura.
$bellevue pre-blocking (by jesh\)$
This is pre-blocking—after a wash the shoulders no longer stick up like that! I’m going to find a cute dress so I can do a for real photoshoot for it, because it is super adorable.

Then I worked up the courage to rip out a significant portion of the Kata pullover. Emphasis on ‘significant’—
$kata, ripped (finally!) (by jesh\)$
all the way back to the waist shaping! Honestly, there was a lot more wrong with it than just the shoulders, and now that I’ve gained some distance (and with it, perspective), I’m actually re-thinking the whole shape of the garment. In the end this may turn into a sleeveless blouse just to get it off the needles and out of my hair.

And then, last night at knit night, after spending a day or so trying to convince myself to work on some other WIPS (yeah right), I gave in and started work on a sleeve for a new sweater.
$cable sleeve start (by jesh\)$
Which turned out to be just the thing, because I’ve already finished the first and started on the second. This sweater was actually originally intended to be the companion piece to Kata, but since that may no longer actually be a sweater, I’ll probably just separate the two and try to give this one its own, distinct feel. And hopefully it’ll work up faster too!

Recovery

design, knitting, spinning, travel 2 Responses »

Jun 042010

I always forget how much shows take out of me; usually I need at least a week after I get home to chill out and process and start getting back to normal. And of course the fact that I came back terribly sunburned this time is not helping matters!

So, Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft: there was the usual assortment of friends, food, fun, and fiber, plus the added bonus of a much needed road trip and vacation. Which means that all of the recovery (and sunburn) is so worth it.

I found a llama that looks like me:
$jesh as a llama (by jesh\)$

And a wheel that matches mine:
$norwegiantuplet (by jesh\)$

And I found out how fast I can’t spin:
$short draw showdown (by jesh\)$

Wait, though—that one needs the backstory.

A few months ago, after hearing rumors that she had a super fast short draw, I challenged Lynn to a contest. A short draw showdown, of sorts. And showdown, we did, although it is now being proclaimed as more of a smackdown, but I maintain that I could’ve been defeated by much less if my yarn hadn’t broke at an inopportune moment.

In any case, after we spun fast and furiously for about ten minutes, our yarn was wound off together as one skein. This also gave us the opportunity to answer the age old question, “how many spinners does it take to wind yarn off of two wheels?”
$how many spinners (by jesh\)$

And my yarn ran out first. (Lynn had a good 24 yards on me, which is what I’m holding above. She’s got the amount that we both spun—though you’ll have to ask her on the yardage of it.)

Still, it was my own fault for challenging her in the first place, and next year we’re going to have at it again in a long draw brouhaha. Neither of us are as good with long draw as short draw, so I’ll need to do some practicing.

I also ran into my fellow ISO/destash mod Kim, who happily handed over a copy of the fantastic Think Outside the Sox book in exchange for nothing but a hug and a handful of peanut m&ms.
$somebunnyslove kim (by jesh\)$

There was Wollmeise on offer as well, but honestly it’s not my favorite and the book is much easier for Hillary and I to share anyway, as the m&ms weren’t just mine.

And that’s the highlights, really! I picked up a few skeins of yarn, one for a design project and one to knit Jennifer one of these:
$finishedlicoricedrops (by jesh\)$
Since she was quite enamored of it when I pulled it out to show off on Sunday.

I also grabbed some super delicious cormo/alpaca fiber, but then (stupidly!) handed over my flyer to have more bobbins made, so I can’t start playing with it just yet. It’ll be worth the wait, though; I love cormo quite a bit and having it blended with alpaca makes it extra delicious.

Oh, I did finally manage to find a project for the road, and worked on it quite a bit:
$rookglove (by jesh\)$
(blurry picture brought to you by how difficult it is to take a picture of my right hand with my left)

I ended up using the stitch pattern from the not-working socks after all—with a few alterations and in a different yarn, I think it looks fantastic. And I also think it’ll look way neater as full-fingered gloves than it would’ve done in just a simple sock. Hopefully I can get a pattern written up for them, too!

There’s also a quick test knit on the needles that I’ll hopefully have done and ready to show off sometime this weekend. Must knit faster!

Panic!

fiber!, knitting, life, spindles, spinning, travel No Responses »

May 262010

The good news: The handspun and kits are all finished and packed up,
$packedkits (by jesh\)$
diversion shawl is done and blocking, and the weather for this weekend looks awesome.

The bad news: I still have six spindles to finish, ALL of the spindles need to be weighed and labeled, I can’t find my spindle labels, I wasted an hour of prime packing time fighting with my stupid @#*%ing blocking pins to get the diversion shawl laid out, I’ve got a cold from hell, and all of my attempts at drinking hot tea to combat said cold are being thwarted by the 90 degree weather today.

Also, I tried to start a new sock project so I would have some travel knitting, but variegated yarn + lace pattern + not even using the right size needle = frog.
$badsock (by jesh\)$

Miles and Miles

knitting, spinning 4 Responses »

May 202010

and miles (and miles!) of handspun lace singles.

$kit yarns (by jesh\)$ I
I’m not even kidding—this is exactly 1.7 miles of yarn. I’m still working on cowl kits for MASW, although with only two skeins left the finish line is finally in sight. And even though I’m going to be totally sick of spinning these things by the time I’m done, I will say that it’s been a fascinating project; each kit only needs a small amount of yarn, which has allowed me to explore all sorts of interesting fibers and blends and play around with different carding and spinning techniques as I go along. There are batts, too, for spin your own kits, but I didn’t dare bring those upstairs for photographs because they would’ve been instantly beset upon by kittens, and I don’t think anyone particularly wants nommed batts.

Unfortunately due to an ordering mishap the packaging I need for the kits won’t be arriving here ’til Monday, and we’re leaving early-ish next Friday, so Tuesday and Wednesday will probably be a rush of labeling and organizing and bead counting to try and get everything in order. On the plus side, I can probably ~~bribe~~ persuade some locals to help, which should cut down on the tedium.

Meanwhile the sweater is still in time out, and I don’t even want to think about it, so instead I’m working on a pretty little wrap thing.
$licorice drops in progress (by jesh\)$
Let me tell you, it is really nice to be able to just knit something that is mindless but still engaging—I think if not for this project I would’ve just burned out and given up on knitting for a few weeks. Fortunately, this is relaxing enough that I can probably dive back into design work (and maybe even tackle The Sweater) once I, er, wrap this up. (That was terrible. I’m sorry.)

But I have to get these kits done first! She says, while sneaking away to knit another row…

When Bad Things Happen to Good Sweaters

design, knitting 6 Responses »

May 152010

Let me tell you a story.

A story of a stupid knitter who tried to deny what she knew was true and is paying the consequences. (Oh, the tears.)

See, I learned (part of) my lesson last time, and tonight when I went to re-knit and sew in the sleeve cap, I carefully checked at each point.

Checked when I pinned in the cap:
$pincheck (by jesh\)$
It looks okay, right? Moves up a little when I bend my arm, but that’s because it’s not sewn in, right?

Checked when I had sewn a bit down the front of the shoulder:
$halfwaycheck (by jesh\)$
Well, now it’s poofing up a bit. But surely that’s just because the back isn’t done up, right?

Let’s try it on Hillary.
$kataonhillary (by jesh\)$
(The stupid knitter’s friends are horrible, horrible people who convince her that it’s fine and she should keep going. Look! It fits on Hillary! And looks so nice on her! It’ll work out just fine!)

So I carefully finish sewing in the rest of the shoulder, and try it on again.
$acceptable (by jesh\)$
I’d like to think that I’m looking so sassy and confident here because I am in complete and utter denial about what’s about to happen.

What’s about to happen you ask?

THIS. THIS IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.
$THIS IS NOT WHAT A SWEATER SHOULD LOOK LIKE (by jesh\)$

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go build a bonfire out of my stash in sacrifice to the sweater gods. Maybe they can come fix the whole thing while it’s blocking. Failing that, at least I’ll be rid of the temptation to ever, ever try to knit again.

My downfall

design, knitting 7 Responses »

May 122010

I was determined to finish a sweater sleeve tonight at knit night, and although I managed to do it, well….

Wait. Let me start at the beginning of the night. First thing I did was check to make sure the length up to the underarm was good.
$sleevelengthcheck (by jesh\)$
Good? Good! Hooray!

Then I knit the underarm shaping to match the shaping on the body, and quickly basted in what I had with scrap yarn to make sure it matched and fit properly.
$underarmcheck (by jesh\)$
Fits? Fits! Hooray!

Then logic would follow that I would knit the sleeve cap, and pin it in place to try it on and make sure it fit. Did I do that? Of course not! Instead I went full steam ahead and set in the shoulder.
$pointyshoulderedsweater (by jesh\)$
Headdesk.

I then proceeded to try to convince myself that “it’ll block out, right?” (It won’t.)

I am currently trying to convince myself that I can solve it by just shortening and widening the sleeve cap a bit, but I suspect… I may have to rip out the entire collar and the shoulders. (I know.)

But first the sweater is going to spend some time in the corner, thinking about how bad it’s been. That’ll show it.

Three Things

design, knitting, spindles, spinning No Responses »

May 082010

I don’t think I could be any busier right now if I tried. (Actually, forget I said that—no use tempting fate, here.) So, have a list.

1. Finally got the yarn to continue on with my sweater, and started a sleeve tonight.
$sleevestart (by jesh\)$

I’ve also been working on mathing out the other sizes and writing clear, coherent instructions so that my test knitters can get started, but I gotta say, it’s a challenge. The thing is that once you’re knitting the sweater it’s really easy to see how the lace and cable columns fit together and everything lines up, but getting there is… an issue. Still, I’ll get it worked out. Hopefully.
$katawriting (by jesh\)$

2. Washing handspun is magic. I know this, and have known this for quite a while, but seeing it in action still gets me every time.
$washedvsunwashed (by jesh\)$

These skeins of laceweight singles are actually for cowl kits that I’m going to have with me at the MA sheep and woolcraft fair at the end of the month; there will be handspun versions and spin your own, and Jen will have a handdyed version both at MA and at NHSW this weekend.
$levada (by jesh\)$
(The kits include beads for the picot cast on unless you request it without; my original handspun sample was knit without, only because I hadn’t thought of beading it at that point.)

3. After MASW I’m going to be migrating all of my shop stuff (spindles, fiber, yarn, kits, and patterns) over to this site from Etsy. I’m telling you this now because a) I’ve already started working on it, but it’s going to take me that long to get everything set up, and b) the few items left over on Etsy are 30% off so that I don’t have to move them.

No, really

caturday, design, knitting 2 Responses »

May 012010

Much as I appreciated compliments on the collar I’d done up on Thursday, it really did need to come out. Here’s why:

$finishedkatacollar (by jesh\)$

This is a million times better! The three cables on each side prevent it from being too square and blocky, and the 2×2 rib isn’t heavy and distracting like the 4×3 was. Ten short rows added into the back of the neck make it just flip back on itself, or it can be flipped up to ward off a chilly breeze. Er, not that it would be much help when there’s still no sleeves to be had; as predicted I’ve run short on yarn, but a new skein should be here on Monday. In the meantime I can figure out a plan of attack for the sleeves and math out the other sizes to perhaps get some test knitters started.

Or I could, you know, goof off and play with kittens for the rest of the weekend.
$jess's kitten (by jesh\)$

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