I'm kind of following the Houseworks Organized Christmas Plan - although on a kind of sped-up schedule, because we're planning to sell our house and would therefore like to have it "company-ready" before mid-November. Last week the decluttering assignment was "the craft room", which has really needed a good going-through for years. I've turned up some interesting stuff...
( What I found, and what I did with it. )
The sad thing is, this only gets me to "mostly done" - there's a couple chairs that have just been shoved into the corner that I need to figure out what to do with, and they're in the way of really finishing the project. Most of what's left seems to be sewing-related - the mending basket (yikes!), a couple small totes of fabric, a lot of stray pattern pieces.

I'm taking a break from the sweater (which is coming along nicely, or would be if I could reliably count to 13) to finish a project that's been languishing for years - making a set of tab-top curtain panels for the living room. I'd gotten to the point where all the tabs were sewn up and ready to be attached - and then I just stopped. I have a vague recollection that something about the project was triggering Sewing Neurosis, which is odd, because it's a collection of long, straight seams, and if "long, vaguely wavy seams" are acceptable, then I'm an expert at that...

All I can think of is that I was leery of getting the tabs spaced evenly - I couldn't use the measurement in the directions because they called for 54" fabric and I had 45" fabric. As it turned out, that actually turned out to be so easy I can only assume I set myself up for this on purpose, or if not, it's a happy accident.

There are six tabs on each panel. The two outside tabs line up with the outside edge of the panel, putting the center 1 inch from the outside edge. Measure between the centers, divide by five...and it turns out my tabs have a spacing of 7" on center. Exactly. Precisely. And I don't need to worry about drawing the little squares on and matching the squares I was supposed to mark on the tabs but didn't - it says right there, "matching raw edges". Presto. One panel is now at the Tedious Hand Sewing stage, and a second mostly there, in about an hour and a half counting setting up the ironing board and sewing machine.

...and, hey, Hubby and Daughter have both asked to be shown how to sew on buttons. :)

1) I'm definitely taking out every other lace block - I found a photo on Ravelry where someone had done it, and it still looks fabulous, but a little less like it needs something under it. Which means...

2) I am making the 42.5" back, not the 47" back, because I can't count: the 47" back had an even number of segments, not an odd number, so "take out every other lace block" would have left an extra segment hanging under one armpit. I probably could have fudged that, but I didn't feel that ambitious, and I'm feeling more confident about my ability to make different sizes work together, because...

3) I found the Ravelry thread where Joan McGowan-Michael was talking about doing that, and she said she just uses the shaping for the same size armhole and shoulders on front and back, and fudges the extra fabric out of the chest area. Moment of "DUH" here...

4) I think I purl way looser than I knit. When I'm doing the purl rows, everything is fine, but on knit rows it feels like the stitches just want to fall off the left needle. I might have to get some less-slippery needles - or maybe switch up my purling technique. But also...

5) I think the gauge swatch may have lied, but I think I'm going to need to work a few more rows before I can measure properly and find out for sure. It's possible I need smaller less-slippery needles - which will involve a trip to the needle stash rather than the yarn store, which is good.

6) Not relevant to the sweater, but I vaguely recall that one of my mom's best friends when I was a small child was named Joan McGowan. I know it's a small world, but that would be too weird.

The sweater: Krista, which also appears as the "Shaped Lace Tee" in the book Knitting Lingerie Style, which was graciously loaned to me by a friend at work. I hope she wasn't in a hurry to get it back. Available sizes: 33.5", 38", 42.5", 47", 51.5", 56" bust; the stitch pattern is vertical stripes of stockinette separated by simple, narrow lace panels.

The yarn: Berroco Weekend, a cotton/acrylic blend. I have 5 skeins in Orchid, a light purple shade. I hope it's enough - especially depending on sizing issues, I was pretty sure I'd end up with leftovers. The price was good, and in general I trust Berroco synthetics to not feel like plastic; based on the swatch, it feels nice, but it knits a little splitty (it's constructed of a multitude of tiny plies). Most importantly for the upcoming process: it can stand up to being frogged a couple times.

The swatch: Made, washed, and blocked as much as you can block a cotton-acrylic blend! The pattern calls for size 5 and 7 needles; to get gauge for the larger needles, I needed to use 10.5! Good grief; I know I'm a tight knitter, but I suspect Joan McGowan-Michael may be a loose knitter too. Or maybe my swatch lied.

The boobs: Measured. Gulp. I'm about to share with the class here, because it's really relevant to the issue at hand... my full bust is 50", divided up 21.5" in back/28.5" in front. My high bust is 44". Shoulder to waist over the front is 5" longer than down the back. Needless to say there is no size of this sweater that will fit me as-is - I'll end up with some combination of too much fabric in back and not enough in front if I knit a pattern that assumes I'm symmetrical! I think I can add short rows to the lace pattern without it looking too horrible, especially if I do two sets of wrapped stitches and just avoid wrapping any of the stitches in the lace part - but that doesn't address the assymetry issue. Some alternatives:

Punt: Make a tee with a plain pattern instead of lace, and do "regular" short rows and vertical darts without having to worry about messing up the stitch pattern, or make a less-fitted sweater. On some level, this is probably the "smart" choice, but it feels like surrender.

Hard, but "right": In theory what I could do, and what Joan has advised people to do on Ravelry, and what I think she teaches a class on that I'm unlikely to ever have the opportunity to take, is knit the back of the 42.5" size and the front of the 56" size, keeping the side seams even and fudging the sleeves and shoulders a bit, and if this were intended as a tank that's just what I'd do - but sewing in sleeves is a nervewracking process at the best of times, and I can't imagine getting a good result from "fudging" until I have a little better handle on sewing sweaters together as-written. I'm also concerned that putting a 28" piece over my 23" high bust area will leave me with a saggy, baggy neckline; if I go down to the 51.5" size, that's a little more like right there (25.75"), but almost 3" of negative ease over the bust. Whooboy! I know Joan likes negative ease, but that might be a bit much. (And that's the size my full bust measurement would suggest I make! Assymetry, yup.)

Easier to seam, but might not look as good: it might be possible to play with the stitch counts in the stockinette panels. If I start with the 47" size, and then above the waist shaping take one stitch out of each panel that doesn't end up pointed at the shoulder seams or armholes, that would narrow the back by about an inch without affecting anything I need to sew. Meanwhile adding a stitch to each panel in the front would give me one more inch, and it could be decreased out again above the bustline. Maybe combining that with a switch to Even Larger Needles would give me enough room to play with. If I'm going to do this I might want to knit every other lace section plain, giving me 5 wide stripes instead of 9 narrow ones, and adjust the count in each by two stitches. I don't know how much this would change the character of the tee - but I'm going to find out, because I think it's what I'm going to do.

To some extent this is going to be a trial-and-error process. I will probably need to remind myself from time to time that I started with a pile of yarn, and the worst case is that I end up with a pile of yarn...which will be the point at which yes, I do punt and make a Bombshell or a Shapely Tank or maybe something cute for Daughter instead.

Casting on for the back - it's way more straightforward than the front, and it'll give me a chance to decide whether I like the wider stripes. Like I said - wish me luck!

Been knitting, rather than writing about knitting, again.

I'm about to actually start knitting that sweater that I planned for months ago. Wish me luck...the sweater is supposed to be fitted, and the shape of my body means that no pattern will fit me even remotely nicely as-written. Details of the knitting will get their own set of posts.

Yesterday, I failed to interest Hubby in measuring my breasts. I'm a little worried if he found that less exciting than his video game. But I did do a swatch and determine that it's possible to hide a lot of short rows in the lace pattern for Krista - it's not perfect, Hubby could tell where the short-rowed section was because one yarn-over got distorted on each side, but I think it'll do. (I suspect I'm going to need a lot of short rows. The preliminary measurement I was able to do on my own says I theoretically need to add 5 to 6 inches to the front of the sweater. I was astonished to find that it's actually possible to fit a block that big in. I hope I have enough yarn.) Next step: figure out how to make the shoulder seams match up. I almost wonder if I want to buy a couple yards of fleece and make a mock-up...

This morning, I finally had a successful attempt to chart the nifty cable bit for Hubby's sock - it takes six rib welts and weaves them together into a diamond shape, then they go back to being rib welts. If I squint, my chart looks like the photo of the swatch, which is hopefully a good sign. Now I need to find out whether he wants a lot of little ribby diamonds, or just a few, or even just one, on each sock. Also, since I'd intended this as my project for June Sockdown (challenge: "Design Your Own"), I should find out how much of the design I'm allowed to have done in advance; I'd love to be able to get the math worked out to the point where I can pick up needles and cast on for My Sock! on June 1st. (Also, curse Hubby and his extra-wide feet...but I'd rather knit him socks than a sweater. :) )

I've just been doing more crafting than writing about crafting, I guess. Mostly socks. Almost totally socks, actually.

1) I didn't do March Sockdown, because I'd hoped to finish my February socks. Then, near the end of the month, I had a glass just shatter in my hand while I was washing it and ended up with six stitches in the side of my little finger. You wouldn't think you used your little finger a lot while knitting - but you do. Go figure.

I'm actually binding off the February socks as I type. (Well, kind of, given that I need both hands to do both tasks.) Despite the fact that they consumed different amounts of yarn, they're basically the same size. This is weird to me. The Boxcars pattern is awesome, and I see all kinds of potential in the construction technique - you could build the sock around a crocheted hexagon, for example. And this might be just the pattern I was after for some orange- and black-striped Halloween yarn.

2) For April's Sockdown, I knit a pair of Pomatomus, out of Dream In Color Starry, in this awesome light blue color with green, pink, and purple highlights. I had this sock in mind the moment I laid eyes on the yarn - and the socks ended up....well, they didn't precisely not fit me, because I could get them on, but the scale pattern looked kind of stretched out and unattractive. Daughter has very slender legs and size 7 Extra-Narrow feet - so she has a pair of awesome Pomatomuses.

I did have the usual angst over the non-rectangular Chart B. The solution was simple: just knit it. The first stitch in the chart is the first stitch in the round, no need to move any stitches, even though the chart row is shifted over a few spaces.

3) For May's Sockdown, I'm doing Cookie A.'s mystery sock (no link) in a nice, soft alpaca blend yarn in a color I would call Purple Dammit Heather. It's a little bit of an unusual choice for the pattern - the featured technique of the month is cables, and while most people's cables seem to be Really Really Cable-y, mine are kind of gentle - and I actually really like the effect. This one actually will fit me, but is a little taller than I usually like a sock. As long as I don't run out of yarn, I'm good.

4) I'm kind of designing a sock. Hubby wanted a sock that was "plain, but not." I found a pattern he liked in a book - a 2x2 rib with a wee tad of cable - but there is only a photo of the swatch, not a chart. I have work to do there. And then I will have work to do to clothe Hubby's size 10.5 Extra-Wide feet. On the bright side he likes his socks short.

5) I'm also in the Re-Engineering The Pattern phase of knitting a sweater. Not the Opulent Raglan, after all the sweater-picking angst - I decided to go with Krista, from White Lies designs. I have the yarn for it and everything. Joan McGowan-Michael actually came up with a brilliant suggestion for girls built like me - if I'm 20" across the back and 26" across the front (I'm not - I'm not quite ready to announce my actual measurements to the world. :) ), then knit the back from the 40" size and the front from the 52" size, and fit them together. This requires a bit of jiggering at the shoulder seams and armscyes, but I think I can do it. I also need to figure out how to work short rows in the lace pattern - it's a two-row repeat so odds are really good that I'll have to wrap somewhere in the lace section.

Haven't spun a lick since the end of the Olympics. Haven't picked up a cross-stitch needle since sometime in 2009. Still haven't learned to naalbind. Naughty me.

This week, we've had temperatures in the 40s outside - but it's been about 85 degrees in my office. HVAC fail!

Most of this week, I've also been wearing handknit wool/nylon socks, along with T-shirts and jeans (although I threatened to show up in a tank top and running shorts if they don't get the heat fixed...). I wondered, "Is that making me more uncomfortable?" So today I wore commercial socks - probably a cotton/synthetic/elastic blend, if not completely synthetic.

It turns out that my wool socks are actually more comfortable than this particular pair of commercial socks - my feet felt warm both days, but today they also feel squishy and damp. Go go magic moisture-absorbing wool!

Corollary: I will never, ever knit with Berocco Comfort Sock. At least not to make socks. It might be the solution for colorwork scarves.

I've got my shawl underway. I started with this, when the opening ceremonies began:


...and by the time I couldn't keep my eyes open, I had this:
( Yarnie stuff. )

I finally have my unfinished sock, beads, and a tiny-enough crochet hook all in the same place - and no time to work on it. Alas. But I've started the toe decreases so if I can sneak in a round here and a round there I'll have it finished by the end of the month.