stash, knit, repeat

I am super-excited to share with you my latest pattern and FO: Morgan’s Flower Garden.

Pattern: Morgan’s Flower Garden (rav link)

Yarn: Cascade 220, in #4007, 9404, 9557

Time Elapsed: A few weeks

Notes/Pattern Info: First, the standard-style pattern info. Morgan’s Flower Garden is an A-line, zippered cardigan for little girls, adorned with a tulip motif and sized with plenty of ease to accommodate youngsters’ rapid growth. It’s finished with tulips on the right front and left sleeve cuff. Seed stitch collar and zipper cover look neat and trim, as do the folded hems on sleeve cuffs and at the sweater’s bottom. Pattern includes individualized intarsia charts and detailed instructions.

I have sized the sweater to fit 1 (2, 4, 6) year-old girls, with bust measuring 22 (25, 27, 29)”. You will need one set of needles in a size to get gauge, and another two sizes below the main size. Special techniques include intarsia for the actual flowers and (very) simple embroidery for the tulip stems. Pattern is available for purchase here or in my ravelry store for US$5.00. Special and heartfelt thanks to my test knitters Bertha, Ruth, Erin, Wendy, and Cathy. Y’all rock the house.

Now, for the story: I am a very lucky knitter indeed and have several friends who are a pure delight to knit for. I have been knitting for Morgan since she was born, and when her mother Beth (our sons’ godmother) mentioned that Morgan had outgrown the last sweater I knit for her, I knew it was time to start thinking.

I sketched this design out months ago, and tried hard to think of any other way to do the tulips than the obvious choice: Intarsia. I don’t mind intarsia too much for vertical stripes, but for anything else? Let’s just say it’s not high on my list of favorite techniques. I eventually gave in to my knitting intuition, though, and intarsia it is. I found it totally worth the annoyance.

The best part about this project was giving it to Morgan. She’s old enough now (4.5) to really get excited about her own clothing. She immediately donned the sweater, started dancing around the room, and apparently hasn’t taken it off since. We visited them last week, and she was still wearing the sweater. Now, that’s a girl who’s going to receive more hand knits.

Though it may be awhile before she grows out of this one.

What an intensely busy, mostly wonderful year. I know 2009 was rough for many, and we certainly had ups and downs Chez Stashknitrepeat, but overall it’s been a pretty amazing year. Most of all, I’m thankful that we’ve gone from here:

To here:

Without too much trouble, even. We’re very grateful to have such enjoyable children.

Knitting-wise, my mosaic looks a lot less impressive than my knitting year actually was.

Let’s go in order, shall we? First up, some socks for Jacob. Then, a a cowl for me. A sweater for Jacob, followed quickly by a sweater for Daniel. I test-knit some mittens, knit another sweater for Jacob… and then the secret knitting started, the designing bug bit, the secret knitting continued, and… well, there went the blog. I’ve been working steadily, and managed to finish a sweater for Beth and some socks for Danielle, and a sweater for me. Very recently I cast off on some socks I started in March.

I was able to share one piece of secret knitting, and will soon share another (that last photo in the mosaic). But let me tell you, my needles have been flying this year. There are three more entire sweaters that I’ve designed and knit this year, and another that’s designed and halfway knit. It’s nuts.

The design process is reminding me a little of the academic publishing cycle. You get a good idea, and it can anywhere from a few months to a year or two after the work is done for the work to actually see the light of day. It’s sometimes frustrating, but now that my “pipeline” of projects is full, I hope to see a more steady stream of content around these parts.

Speaking of which, I finished some socks.

Pattern: Cookie A’s Devon socks, from her book

Yarn: Sundara sock, Deadly Nightshade

Time Elapsed: Something like 9 months.

Notes/Modifications: None. These socks are perfect.

Happy new year! May 2010 shine brightly and happily on all of you and yours.

When Jacob asks for socks, he gets ‘em.

Pattern: Basic 52-stitch socks, 3×1 rib

Yarn: Sundara Sock, Bronzed Forest

Time Elapsed: Something like a week or two

Notes/Modifications: This is a made-up pattern, so modifications are nil, although I did notice that the 48-stitch ones are getting a little small. But still, no earth-shaking anything to say about these socks.

(He asked for them, and pestered me about them while I was knitting them. And then said he wouldn’t wear them for photos, and when he relented and put them on he hid his feet.)

He said he’d only let me get some proper shots of them if I wore socks and took pictures of my socks, too.

The Sundara is leftover from Daniel’s Tomten, which is still sitting on my dressform waiting for a zipper. I’ll get around to it before he outgrows the thing, I promise. It’s a lovely color, the Bronzed Forest, and Sundara’s sock yarn was nice to work with as always.

And really, there’ nothing cozier than a snuggly family in hand-knits, right?

Well, the party was this weekend, so now I can share!

Pattern: Nicky Epstein’s “Animal Pullovers (Elephant)”, from back issue of Knit It!

Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8, colors 14 and 201 (6 and 1 balls for the 4-year size)

Time Elapsed: 6 days, booyah

Notes/Modifications: The biggest change (other than skipping the Wool-Ease) was to make the edges seed stitch instead of rolled stockinette. I made most of the length measurements slightly shorter to accommodate this.

I also made the neckline a crewneck, since A. doesn’t like anything snug around his neck. I like the changes, and will probably do the same thing again when I make the duck version for Jacob. I’m not the biggest fan of intarsia, but sometimes the result is cute enough to be worth it.

I loved, loved, loved working with the Aurora and am already planning a sweater for myself in the stuff. It’s the softest merino ever, even softer than the Zara I used for my Jo Sharp cardi. Also, machine-washable! I put my swatch in the washer with a bunch of Jacob’s clothes on the “normal/fast” agitation setting (cold water), and it only showed a minimal difference from the sweater (which I’d soaked in Eucalan). I’m sure one wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the gentle cycle and hand-washing.

But the best part about knitting this sweater was seeing A.’s reaction when he opened it. He got this huge grin, and immediately wanted to put it on despite rather warm temperatures. He refused to take it off for dinner yesterday, and when his mom (who generously took all of the modeled FO shots today) suggested he take it off after the photo-shoot was done, he refused again. Such obvious enjoyment is definitely the best part of knitting gifts, for me.

Final details round-up is in ravelry and the FO gallery here. And that’s it for secret knitting in these parts! Happy mother’s day to all who celebrate–I’m off to snuggle with my own munchkin.

One of my favorite things about this knitblogging community is reading running commentary about works-in-progress–seeing how projects take shape, getting fresh impressions of how a particular knit goes rather than the sum-up feelings at the end, the vicarious thrill of others’ triumphs and the keen empathy when I read about a stumbling block. The creative process fascinates me, and I love to think that I might be able to offer others the same glimpses they grant me.

I was looking through past entries on a shawl I knit, the other day, and noticed two things I don’t like about my own blogging: When I do take notes, they’re never as detailed or useful a year down the road as they seemed when I wrote them, and my WIP posts are much less frequent than they used to be. Part of the latter, of course, is that I’m doing a lot of baby stuff lately. Most of the knitting is done within a week, so there’s only an opportunity for one or two posts at most for this stuff. But I think some of it is laziness on my part, too–it’s tough to get good pictures of WIPs, particularly something like lace or colorwork that looks (let’s be honest) less than appetizing pre-blocking.

Still, to increase my own satisfaction and reward from what I’m doing here, I’m really going to try to make an effort to (a) better catalog my thoughts and impressions and problems and solutions while I’m actually knitting a piece, and (b) post more WIP shots. So here we go!

I’m mostly focusing on gift knitting this week, but while I waited for the yarn to arrive in the mail I picked up the Cleopatra Wrap (ravelry link here) I started ages ago. I’m knitting it in the Sundara silk lace I received as part of the Seasons Club that just ended, and I put it aside after only 7 rows back in January because I couldn’t for the life of me follow the simple chart. While preggo brain is still definitely in evidence, I’ve come to my knitting senses again and found the lace both engaging and easy this time around. The pattern uses what I think is a really neat construction: You cast on, do the edging chart, place the live stitches on a spare needle, and then repeat for the second edging (followed immediately by the body). At the end, graft the stitches together.

This technique has three big advantages that I see at the moment: First, the edges of the rectangular stole match. Second, I get to use up all of that precious silk with no guesswork. Third, once you’re done with the first edging, a progress shot is really easy!

I’m a little stunned at how much more I like the lace when the points are pinned out vs. when it’s straight across the bottom. The points add such a grace to the piece that’s not evident when it’s just hanging from the needle. One thing this picture doesn’t show, though, is the way the yarn is knitting up. I was a little unsure about this first installment of Sundara’s club–the color (“copper over bamboo”) seemed too bright, too pink, not subtle enough. Something was off about it, wound into a ball.

It knits up much more nicely than the ball might indicate. The sheen is incredible, and when the yarn has a little bit of room around it in the lace, I see less fuschia and more of the subtle bits of “bamboo” peeking through. There’s depth without streaking, delicacy, shine. I just can’t wait to wear it. I can’t wait to pick it up again after my current deadline wip is finished.

So what’s the secret knitting, then? A birthday sweater for one of our most special friends who is turning 2. I’ll talk about it more next week after the reveal, but details are in ravelry and here’s a sneak peek:

And finally, here’s a knits-in-action shot for you. You’ll have to excuse the glazed, slack-jawed, post-nap expression! I woke up from my nap with Jacob the other day and NEEDED POPCORN. So I threw on my new favorite maternity sweater and stumbled downstairs like a zombie.

As it turns out, the shaped v-neck sweater I knit myself a little over a year ago can accommodate a belly, too.