November 22, 2009
The Wee-est Vest
My Vestvember project is complete!
Pattern: Archie Vest from Kristen Rengren's Vintage Baby Knits
Yarns: Madelinetosh Sock in malachite and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in natural (0ns). I used a bit more than half a skein of the malachite (please note: Madtosh Sock is a big, 100-gram skein), and about half a skein of the natural (typical 50-gram skein).
I was very pleased to use up some stash yarn for this project. I picked up the malachite at a friend's destash sale about a year ago, and the natural is from Birds 'n Yarn, purchased who-knows-when for some project which never materialized.
Needles: US 1 for the ribbing, and US 2 for the colorwork, 16" circs and dpns.
Finished size: 17" chest circumference, 10.5" from shoulder to hem.
I followed the book's instructions for the smallest size, but because my gauge was a little bit tighter than recommended (about 9.25 spi and 40 rpi in color pattern), this wee vest is only 17" around the chest. Wow, I don't think I've ever made anything quite so small! This is truly newborn size, and will be perfect for a little baby born during this winter.
Though I made some modifications to the knitting instructions, I stayed true to its overall design: it's ridiculously adorable! As I mentioned earlier, I knit the vest in the round until the armholes. I also added a button band along one of the shoulder seams because the neck opening looked absolutely teensy, even before adding the ribbing. I knit the button bands and the neck ribbing as one continuous strip, working increases where the two would typically meet to create a pivot. The buttons are from the stash, and are ever-so-slightly different from one another (Shhh! Don't tell the mom! I don't think she'll be able to tell anyway.).
This was my first time working with Madelinetosh Sock yarn, and I really enjoyed the deep, saturated, and rich malachite colorway. The dye did come off on my fingers as I was knitting, and the yarn bled quite a bit when I blocked the vest. Not enough to stain the towel on which I laid the vest to dry, and not enough to visibly fade in color (though who knows what will happen after 10 additional washes). I think some of the dye bled onto the white Lorna's Laces yarn, but without high heat and a setting agent, I don't think the change was drastic. I will advise the mom against wearing this vest on top of, say, a fancy white button-down shirt (ha!), because I think it would pick up some green around points of friction, like the armholes.
I was a little bit hesitant about knitting Fair-Isle-style above the armholes, where I would be working back and forth, stranding while purling. Truthfully, it wasn't a big deal at all. First of all, we're talking only a handful of rows. Second of all, I have two words: Buffalo Sweater. Sheesh! Knitting that sweater was a challenge like no other. And I most certainly stranded and intarsia-ed on both the right and wrong sides while knitting it. A few rows of stranded purling on a wee Archie Vest?!? Psshhh! Don't even! I think I was able to maintain decent tension, and blocking helped, of course. Here's what the wrong side looks like in that area:
I think you can see here how the two yarns have no interest in sticking to each other, at all. Steeking would have been tricky, indeed.
Emboldened by this experience, I decided to tackle yet another sweater which would require stranded purling:
It's the Pod of Cetaceans Cardigan by Elinor Brown! It has wee whales! I'm close to being done, though a last-minute misreading of the instructions had me ripping back both button bands and the collar last night. Le sigh. Stay tuned for some FO pics!
November 15, 2009
Copycat
The parade of baby knits continues!
Pattern: basic top-down baby raglan. Finished dimensions: 21" across the chest, 9.75" shoulder to hem, and 5" from sleeve cuff to armpit. I swiped the target measurements from Super-Natural Stripes, as well as the whole striping idea!
Needles: Susan Bates US 3 circs and dpns. My gauge after blocking was something like 6.5 stitches per inch, and 10 rows per inch.
Yarn: Shibui Sock, 100% superwash merino wool, fingering weight. I ended up using almost one full skein of Bark 7533, and half of a skein of each Sky 3115, and Ivory 7501.
Some might say that it's crazy to knit a garment, even a tiny one, using fingering weight yarn. I say, if you enjoy knitting with fingering weight yarn, why not use it for a sweater?!? It's not just for socks! Here I was able to use handpainted yarn in way which allowed the variegations to shine. Also, I used less than 1 skein of each color: excellent for stash-busting! I'm guessing that I accumulate enough sock yarn leftovers for such a sweater each time I complete 4 pairs of adult socks.
Except in this case I bought the yarn specifically for this sweater, so it wasn't stash-busting at all ;). True confession: I completely copycatted these colors from Brooklyn Tweed Jared. I saw Jared's photo in this entry (scroll down), and knew the combination would be perfect for my friend's soon-to-be-here baby! I ended up substituting Bark and Ivory for Jared's Honey and Pebble, because I liked the contrast better. But the original idea was all his ;).
The yarn colors were an absolute delight. The Sky colorway is the most amazing turquoise. I always looked forward to knitting the Sky stripe, and it motivated me to plow through the Bark and Ivory bits.
I had two complaints about the yarn itself. First, the yarn twisted up on itself when knitting, and my stockinette slanted a bit, especially after blocking. The spinners in the group know that this is a trademark of an unbalanced yarn. Second, I found the Ivory colorway to be a little bit thinner than the other two. I think blocking helped a bit, but it's still thinner. Not a huge problem, except for those rows where I wove in the ends - the white stitches became distorted if they had to support a yarn tail.
Speaking of weaving in the ends... Of course I have to do the knitting equivalent of showing you my dirty laundry, and let you see the inside of the garment:
Not so bad! As with Super-Natural Stripes, if I could, I wove in the ends as I went along. The finishing was not terribly painful.
I found the perfect turquoise buttons at Windsor Button, of course. They always have exactly what I need. I attached an extra button to a little tag, which I thought was quite clever :). Hopefully this means it won't get lost.
I copied Shibui's recommended yarn care onto the label - machine-wash gentle, dry flat - but actually machine-washed and dried the sweater when I blocked it myself. It seems to have worked just fine.
Destination: Exercise Before Knitting Elinor's house! The baby is due to arrive in a few weeks, I think. Enjoy!
November 10, 2009
Vest-membering during Vestvember
Say that three times fast!
What's Vestvember, you ask? It's a good old-fashioned knitalong of vests during the month of November. You can find Vestvember on Flickr and Ravelry.
I didn't have any plans to participate in Vestvember: so many of my friends are expecting, and I'm just swamped with baby knits for the next few months! No time for vests, not right now! Instead, take a look at my latest baby project:
It's the Archie Vest from Kristen Rengren's Vintage Baby Knits
It didn't even hit me that this vest would qualify for Vestvember until Maritza helpfully pointed out that it's... a vest!
The retina-scorching green is Madelinetosh sock in malachite. It's so bright that I think only a baby will be able to pull it off with grace. The white is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in natural. Because I'm predominantly a Continental knitter, it's easier for me to hold the green yarn in my left hand, and the white, in my right. This leads to green being the dominant yarn. I would have preferred to make white dominant, but I know it would take me much longer to complete the vest if I did that. I figure, as long as I stay consistent, I should be good.
The similarity of my yarn colors to those in the book are a coincidence. Many of the patterns in Vintage Baby Knits, including the Archie Vest, use fingering-weight yarn. Fingering-weight yarn is always aplenty in this household, a condition which afflicts many, I'm sure ;). So, I just yanked two skeins from the stash that have been hibernating there without a purpose for a while, and that looked good together. And they happen to be similar to those chosen in the book.
I'm knitting the smallest size (3-6 months) so the baby will be able to wear the vest this winter. Though the pattern is written to be worked in pieces, I'm knitting it in the round until I reach the armholes. At that point, I will at least try to divide and work back and forth in rows. We'll see how painful that is... Elinor's recent post reminded me that steeking superwash wools is not impossible. Lorna's Laces with its 10% nylon content is really non-sticky, though. I guess I'll decide when I get there ;).
