Untangling Knots

Complicated Feelings About Stranded Knitting

I’ve made a huge dent in my first project for a little collection I’m planning. It’s a pullover sweater, and I just joined the front and back under the arms. There’s just enough color work on the front that it felt like the front flew off my needles, and I only got sick of the color work when I was on the last couple of rows. I have a complicated relationship with stranded color work color work. I love designing it, and I like the idea of it, but I always get sick of knitting it really quickly. It requires too much of my attention, and I have a bad habit of making my floats too loose. I don’t think stranded color work and I will ever be best friends.

Small off topic note: I’m giving Etsy’s new digital download system a try. You can now find my patterns at UntanglingKnotsKnits.

Riverine Pullover in Pom Pom

Remember how I’ve been doing a bit of secret knitting this year? Well, it wasn’t all for swaps! I have a new pattern in the summer issue of Pom Pom Quarterly, which is the cutest quarterly knitting magazine ever.

When I think of summer knitting, I think of patterns that are both fun to wear in warm weather and easy to work on while drinking sangria. I think I nailed it here because, with the help of some stitch markers, this sweater is incredibly simple to knit. The body is knit in the round, and all of the shaping happens in the stockinette section. The fronts and backs are separated and knit flat using a very easy to memorize lace pattern. The faux capped sleeves and slashed neckline mean that the sweater is basically made up out of rectangles, and the shoulders are joined using a three needle bind off so it’s totally seamless. Easy, right?

If the sleeve shape looks familiar to you, it could be because I used it for last summer’s knit and crocheted sweater. But it’s more likely that you love vintage clothing like I do and have seen it all over the place in late 40s and 50s tops and dresses.

This sample was knit to fit the model with the intended amount of ease, not me, but I still managed to squeeze in to snap these pictures before I sent the sample off to Pom Pom. I was sad to see it go, but it looks right at home with the other patterns in the issue.

Corella in Malabrigo Arroyo

On Saturday of our retreat, we had a swap. I had knit for Meagan, but I was a little nervous about my project. I made Corella in Malabrigo Arroyo, and I thought the color and shape would look great on Meagan, but I wasn’t sure if she was a beret person. It turned out that she loved it, and she modeled it for me for the blog! I’m really happy with how it looks on her.

The pattern was a fun knit and easy to follow, but I made a few mods. The crown decreases were way too rapid for my taste. Over 20 decreases every other round? No thanks. I was planning on just adding more rounds in between the decrease rounds, but in order to maintain the look, I ended up winging the whole thing. Some decreases are still every other round and some are every fourth round. Overall, I like the way my modification turned out, and the Arroyo gets two thumbs up from me. I really liked working with that yarn.

2013 Purlygirls Knitting Retreat

I had the best knitting-filled weekend ever. My knitting group, the Purlygirls, had its annual retreat to Fort Worden in Port Townsend, and it was so much fun. The weather was amazing, especially for Spring in the Pacific North West. It was warm and sunny, and we spent the weekend eating, drinking, shopping, lounging in the sun and, of course, knitting.

We took the ferry over from Seattle early on Friday. After a quick stop at The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble, we made our way to Port Townsend where we naturally checked out the local yarn stores. At Fort Worden, which is now a national park, we had rented one of the officer’s houses for our whole group, and we spent most of our time hanging out there, knitting. Saturday morning, Amy took some photos for Erin‘s new shawl pattern, and the rest of the day was spent exploring town and/or knitting. Sunday we sadly had to head back, but first we made a detour to check out Churchmous Yarns and to grab lunch before getting on the ferry to go home. It was a very good weekend.

Afghan Envy

Whenever I see a blog post with an afghan or quilt, I always get a little wistful. Handmade blankets are so cozy, and I want them all, but for the longest time I couldn’t imagine making my own. I’d see my mom spend months crocheting a blanket, and I’d remind her how much I love and use the one she made me in the hopes that she’d make me a second one.

Blankets seemed like they would take forever, but then I noticed the rate with which one of my friends in my knitting group whipped up a bulky knit blanket. It was cushy and springy, and most importantly, it didn’t take forever to make. Making my own blanket started to seem like something I might have enough patience to do so I picked up some Cascade 128 at my yarn store’s sale, and picked up a hook.

I’ve been thinking of it as my I’m-burnt-out blanket. I’ve been working on it when I’m too fried to want to do anything other than crochet around and around. I went with a simple giant granny square shape because it doesn’t require seaming or too much of my attention. It’s just squishy and cheerful!

Dogs, dogs, dogs!

I’ve had it pointed out to me that I haven’t done a dog post in a while. Those comments were well timed because I went to visit my parents recently, and I’m happily able to put one together!

It’s been a long time since I posted about the dogs so I’ll give them a brief introduction. The springer spaniel is my dad’s dog Henry. Bean is my corgi, but she lives with my parents. And, in the bonus video, we have my sister’s terrier Bjorn. He loves to sing little songs, and Bean gets a bit jealous.

Test Crocheters Needed!

My handy test knitter database is great for knits, but I”m having a hard time figuring out who would be interested in test crocheting a sweater, so I’m putting out an open call! This jacket is a simple top down raglan in a half double crochet stitch pattern.

The sweater uses 925 (1050, 1180, 1305, 1430, 1560, 1690) yards Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport or equivalent sport weight wool. The final bust measurements are 29 (33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53) in/ 74 (84, 94, 104, 114, 125, 135) cm, and the jacket is worn with 0-2 inches of positive ease. You’ll need a G/4mm hook or whatever size is needed to match the 20 sts x 13 rows = 4in x 4in/10.16cm x 10.16cm gauge. You’ll also need a zipper to match the finished front lengths and four buttons.

The deadline for the test crochet will be May 25th. On that day, I’ll need general feedback on the readability of the pattern, an estimate on the yardage used, and photos of the finished jacket, but just the crochet work needs to be completed. Buttons and zippers can wait. When I have your pictures and feedback, I’ll reimburse you for your materials within reason (Sorry, no rare, magical unicorn hair yarn!) via PayPal. If you’re interested, please email me at andi.untanglingknots (a) gmail.com. Please tell me what size you’d like to knit and give me an idea of what yarn you think you’ll use. I’m only accepting a limited number of test crocheters, and I typically try to get a wide range of sizes tested. If you’re not in my tester database, please fill out my survey in your email so I can get to know a little bit about you.

Moderately Sized Plans

I put in a giant order at Quince and Co last weekend, and what turned up at my house yesterday? Yarn! You might be wondering what it’s all for because that’s way more than a sweater’s worth. What do I have up my sleeve? Well, I’m putting together a small collection of knitting themed knits! It was supposed to be my ~~big~~ moderately sized summer project, but my projects have been flying off my needles so I figured I had better order some yarn before I run out of things to knit. The current plan is for the collection to include a sweater, a pair of mitts, a hat, and a cowl, all of which will feature stranded color work with needle and yarn motifs. I’m excited to get swatching, but first I need to finish my current cardigan project!

Just Add Buttons

My cardigan is finished and blocked. All that’s left to do is to sew on a few buttons. I even have the right size in my button stash! I think this sweater will get worn excessively, and I’m really glad that I didn’t make it even more kitschy like I was originally planning on doing. It’s got the right balance of kitsch and wearability right now, and it will help fill the void of neutral sweaters in my collection.

I ended up using duplicate stitch to add my initial, and I think it turned out quite nice. Because I plan on putting together the pattern for this, I ended up charting the entire alphabet, which was surprisingly fun. It turned out a lot better than I expected, and I’m really excited about getting this pattern finished. I just need to take some pictures for the pattern and put together a tutorial for the seamless pockets.

Button Band Time!

I’m so close to finishing this sweater! This weekend I sat down with a glass of iced jasmine-green tea, put on Game of Thrones, and got to work on the button band. I was hoping to get all of the ends woven in and to block the sweater, but I didn’t get quite that far. I’m also debating if I want to embroider on my initial. I’m not entirely sure if I had the skills to do it so I might end up using duplicate stitch, if I do it at all. I’m having a hard time making my mind up, but I feel like if I’m going to add anything, I should do it before I block my sweater. Sometimes I’m way too indecisive.