WiP Wednesday

Yeah, WiP Wednesday is a good place for me to get back into the habit of blogging, right? I have two projects currently on the needles right now. One is my Swirl, which is sooooo close to done


I’ve bound off for the center-neck and am still chugging along at full sleeve width. Should be zooming along soon, except my travel knitting has been getting the lion’s share of work


It’s a Color Affection I’m knitting for my friend Sairy. She knit one for herself a while ago and her mom loved it. Sairy has no interest in knitting another CA so I said I’d do it. She dyed the yarn and sent it to me ages ago. I finally started on Saturday night, and I’m moving right along!

Finally, I have some placemats on the loom that are close to finished, but I forgot to take a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

WiP Wed…Thursday

I swear, I took these pictures yesterday and just didn’t get around to writing the blog post.

There has been a good chunk of knitting on the Swirl. Aside from having one knot in each skein (so far) of Rustic, I’ve been happy with the knit so far. Fortunately, Rustic is a quick and easy spit-splice.


When I took this picture, I was on Welt #10. Now I’m about to start #13. Here’s a slight zoom on Wednesday’s progress.


I’ve also had a good sized sewing project percolating this week. It’s fun, and now I need to sit down and start sewing. Zoom.

(Yes. The fabric is a little bit blurred. Yay Photoshop.)

One final note. Four years ago today, this happened. Hugh is coaching the U.S. Women’s volleyball team this quad. Earlier today, they won their semifinal to advance to the gold medal match. I hope they bring home gold.

WiP Wednesday

The last week was lots of finishing. Finished Color Affection. Finished my bagstopper to the point where I ran out of yarn. I know I have leftovers around here somewhere. I’ll finish that bag when I find them. But, that freed up my needles for a new project:


It’s my second Swirl sweater. This one is Shades of Gray in the now-discontinued Cascade Rustic. It’s an interesting wool-linen blend. So far my biggest issue has been some underspun sections and the fact that it’s throwing a pretty good amount of lint.

There has also been some weaving time, but it wasn’t picture-worthy since it looks the same, just with more fabric on the front beam. Bo-ring!

Swirl Swoon

There are a lot of photos ahead. I figure any project that took three months to knit is more than worthy of eight great pictures.

I first saw the Sandra McIver book “knit, Swirl!” and the 18 sweaters from the book at TNNA in mid June. As soon as I tried one on, I knew I had to make one. I took about two weeks to settle on a yarn combination, and another week of swatching to settle on a needle size.


All but one of the pictures in this post are thanks to my most excellent FO-tographer, my good friend Stephanie, better known as the genius behind Space Cadet Creations. Go buy something from her!
For the first time in my life, I washed a swatch. Two swatches, actually. But let’s face it. If you’re casting on 624 stitches for a thing that can’t be checked in progress, you need that damn swatch to tell you the truth. Mine did.

This shot was taken by my friend Laurel. I keep forgetting that this collar is large enough that it can be worn as a hood!

You cast on the outside edge of this sweater and decrease inward as you go. I chose the Copper Collage pattern from the book (there are 18 sweaters in the book). It is the centered oval silhouette, requiring the largest amount of knitting and the most yarn.


My collar is far shorter than the pictures in the book. Mostly because I did not block it nearly as aggressively as the collar in the book. But that’s fine. I’m quite happy with how mine came out.


This sweater was designed to have fringe at the start/end of the round, but I’m not a fringe person, so I decided to just weave in the ends.


One of the things that I love about this sweater is that it just molds itself to your body type, whatever that may be. Swirls look great on everyone, whether it’s perfectly fitted or loose and cozy. I knit a Size 2, the middle size, and it’s pretty much perfectly fitted for me.


I’ve worn it three days since finishing it a little over a week ago. It’s perfect. It’s comfortable. It can be worn open or closed, providing as little or as much warmth as I need it to provide.


Yeah. I love it. And I already have yarn for a second Swirl. An off-centered circle will be next. It’s an addiction, and I’m totally fine with that. Because if it’s half as great as this Swirl, I’ll love it too.

Copper Collage

Pattern: Copper Collage from the book “knit, Swirl!” by Sandra McIver
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Paris Night/Tosh DK in Composition Book
Quantity: 6+ skeins of Rios, 4+ skeins of Tosh DK
Needles: US 8/5.0mm from my KnitPicks Option set. A variety of lengths.
Started: 22 July 2011
Finished: 23 October 2011
Mods: Did not fringe the collar. And I think I did the cuffs wrong, but they turned out OK. No intentional mods during the actual knitting process. Am I going to mess with five years worth of Sandra's creativity, test-knitting and research? Heck no!

WiP Wednesday

Sooooo, the Swirl took a swim yesterday. The wash water was almost navy as it went down the drain. Here’s hoping most of the loose dye is gone.

It’s currently drying via fan in my old bedroom. With any luck, it will get its seam and I’ll be wearing it by the end of Hurricane Knitters tonight.


Last week was pretty much focused on the Swirl, unless I was in a waiting room here or there. That’s when my cowl came out.


Cowl accompanied by possibly my favorite project bag purchase EVAR. It’s a Stitched by JessaLu bag, and I really love it!
I joined the second skein of Blue Sky at breakfast on Thursday morning. I’ve chugged along adding about 9” since picture day last week. The darning needle marks the spot where I joined the new skein.

And with that, it’s back to the grindstone. This is a horribly busy week for me, so rest assured that I'm writing as fast as I can.

WiP Wednesday

Sorry I’m late today. It’s been busy around here!

So most of my knitting time has gone into my Swirl sweater.


It’s chugging along. I’ve bound off for the neck, but the biggest problem? I’m freaking out about running out of yarn.


See that puny-looking skein of Tosh DK? That’s it. That’s the list. There is no more (although I’ll see if we have more at the store when I go in tomorrow).

I’m also on my last skein of Rios, although that situation is looking better. Which is good. I KNOW there isn’t any more Rios in my color at the store.

So I’m trying to knit quickly. Out run the dwindling yarn supply and all that. Meanwhile, I’m using ALL of my scraps. Fingers crossed for me, please!

In other news …


Weaving! Yay! This is my Penn State Fibonacci stripes doubleweave blanket that the Super-duper Sara at The Mannings helped me plan. It’s Cascade 220 in navy and white.

Those of you with sharp eyes will notice that the carpet is a different color under the loom. We moved it into the front room on Saturday night. It fit!

OK, well I took off the reed, both the front and back beams and all eight harnesses and we had to stand it on its end to get it through, but IT FIT! And it’s happily ensconced in its new/permanent home. Hooray!

I have a bit of organization to work through in the next few days (around my writing duties. Eep!), then we’re truly past renovation-land and in the awesome shiny new layout. Hooray!

WiP Wednesday!

Hi there! Last week, I didn’t have anything decent to show you. I was between socks in the pair-in-progress and hadn’t touched my Swirl. But there has been progress in the last week. Yay, progress!

I finally picked up my Swirl again.


I’m on my 30th welt and increasing along for the sleeves. It’s good to be chugging along on this again. After seeing my friend Dianne’s finished Swirl, I now want my own sweater finished post-haste.

But it’s a little … gigantic … to work on just anywhere. So socks are always the answer!


First sock finished. Second sock well on its way. I love STR-M. It makes for a very fast pair of socks and it’s just wonderful to work with.

And, in the biggest news around here, I’ve been weaving!


The bit of fabric that is disappearing over the front beam is the third placemat of the set, then the hems and the start of the fourth and final placemat. At the top of the shot, you can see the knots tying the warp to the back beam, so the end is near.

The minute this warp is finished, I’ll take the front and back beam and all eight harnesses off the loom, tie down things that might move, and I’ll try to shoehorn the loom into the front room. Please cross your fingers that plan works. Because if it doesn’t, then I’ll have to almost completely dismantle the loom to get it in there. And while it’s good to know your loom that well, it would kind of really suck to have to do that.

In other news, my primary freelance gig kind of went up in smoke a few weeks ago, but a former employer has brought be back on staff to do some feature writing for them. If you’re interested, I’ll be posting links to the stuff I’m writing HERE, on my work blog.

WiP Wednesday

Hi! So I really didn’t do any knitting on vacation. And since we’ve been home, I’ve been busy clearing out the future-weaving-room and doing other stuff around the house. No knitting.

But since the last time I WiP’d you, here’s what I’ve gotten done.


Sock is un-jacked-up and the heel is turned. I’m now decreasing away on the flap.

The Swirl sweater is partially bound off. I’ve started working on the sleeves and bodice, but I’ve hardly started on that portion of the program.


And, since you know I’ve been doing some serious cleaning, that’s going to include a pretty good-sized destash. This is what I pulled yesterday. I have a list with prices. Lemme know if you want it.


All of it is on Ravelry, but none of it has been tagged for sale/trade yet. Figured I'd give folks I "know" first crack at it. I just have toooooo much yarn.

WiP Wednesday

Once again, the bulk of my knitting time has gone to the Swirl sweater. I’m on my last full welt, so I have just a few short rounds left before I start binding off and starting on the sleeves and bodice.


My streak of reading comprehension FAILs continued. I was excited and in a hurry to cast this on, so I just looked at the chart and didn’t READ the instructions. As a result, I’ve been knitting this thing “backwards” from the get-go. If I’d been thinking, I could easily have fixed the problem seven rows in when I did my first set of decreases, but the good news is that I’m pretty sure I know how I can rectify my mistake seamlessly. Hooray!

Moral of the story? Pay attention when you read directions.

In other news, I made a point of getting both of my smaller projects back on track. I ripped out about an inch of my socks-in-progress a week ago, put in my increases markers at the proper point and have been off to the races ever since.


So basically, the V between the markers is everything I’ve knit since last week. Yay, small project that can take a few stitches here and there!

And, last night, I got a few rounds in on my Bagstopper. Inching ever-closer to the top border. Hooray!


We start vacation on Saturday night, so it remains to be seen whether I’ll be doing more knitting or reading next week. For whatever reason, reading usually wins when I’m on vacation.

WiP Wednesday

It’s still project monogamy around here. And it’s just about all swirl knitting. It still looks like a big amorphous blob, but my rows are certainly getting shorter and I’m over halfway through the outer ovals, headed towards binding off and working the sleeves and bodice.


I still love both yarns I’m using, which is a good thing. There’s a lot of knitting still to come on this sweater.


I’m hoping to fix my socks tonight, then I can get moving on that once again. Meanwhile, I am off to continue picking up my basement and possibly organizing a bit of the upstairs yarn. Off to the races again!

WiP Wednesday

Project Monogamy seems to continue as the theme at chez DPUTiger. I’m working on one project at a time, but the project has changed again.

Last week, you saw my Swirl swatch. I cast on last Friday and I’m now on Welt #6. The rows are getting noticeably shorter, which is encouraging. I can’t wait to see this finished sweater!


Yeah, it’s kind of really hard to tell what it’s going to look like when you have 560 stitches on a 40” needle. Here’s a little look at how the welts are shaping up.


And finally, there’s a little thing called “yarn bombing.” Knitters or crocheters use yarn to “decorate” stationary objects. A few weeks ago I saw on Ravelry that one of Pittsburgh’s latest statues had been yarn bombed. Mr. Rogers is now wearing a crocheted red sweater!


And really, shouldn’t Mr. Rogers be wearing a red zip-up cardigan? Picture taken on the ramp from the Fort Pitt Bridge to the Fort Duquesne Bridge a week ago, on my way to knit night. Super worse than usual traffic actually came in handy for once!

WiP Wednesday

Oakland came off of the needles on Saturday. It needs a proper photo shoot, which will hopefully happen tomorrow, then you’ll see it. Personally, I think it’s pretty awesome.

I worked my annual golf tournament on Monday. My sock-in-progress is kind of jacked up, so I needed something else to knit on the course. In 90-degree heat with high humidity. Yuck.

But my sister in law has requested more Bagstoppers, so I figured that was a good place to start. I cast on during the World Cup final on Sunday and have been zipping along on the body of the bag ever since.

You get indoor pictures today because we still have eightybajillion percent humidity, which meant that my camera lens fogged the second I stepped outside.

This is still a great pattern, and I’ve had enough of a break since my last one to not be totally bored/frustrated with knitting this. Highly recommend. I still refer to my personal Bagstopper as my Mary Poppins bag. It holds everything!

And, I’ve been trying to make progress on my main obsession. My swirl sweater.

I finally got my paws on my very own copy of the book and spent last night swatching. I think I’m close on stitch gauge and way off on row gauge. Which means I’m not quite sure how to proceed. Joy.


So I’m off to scour the Ravelry group and Sandra’s website to figure out what I want to do next. With my luck, I’m going to need a US 8 to actually get gauge, and those needle tips from my Options set have gone AWOL. Let me know if you’ve seen them around. They are missed.

Swirl

So the hot topic … well, the hot sweater at TNNA was unquestionably the swirl sweaters in Sandra McIver’s new book “knit, Swirl.”

I spent the last day-plus of the convention mentally auditioning dozens of yarns for my first Swirl Sweater.

I wound up landing somewhere completely different than where I started. Fortunately, that was (mostly) in my stash!


I’ll be working with Malabrigo Rios in the Paris Night colorway (the darker skeins) out of my stash, complemented by MadelineTosh DK in Composition Book Gray (the lighter skeins).

I bought the Rios, if I remember correctly, at Bloomin’s Black Friday sale. Of course, I loved the color and the Malabrigo colorways just glow in the Rios base.


On Sandra’s suggestion, my first Swirl will be a centered oval. Specifically, the plan is Copper Collage, which has a worsted/aran weight paired with a DK weight. I wanted contrast with both color and weight, so I picked the Composition Book.


I plan to swatch over the weekend at the Lake. Expect sunset pictures. Soon.