LK Knits

What I did on my Christmas vacation, by Lynne

Woman does not live by economics alone (although sometimes I come pretty close!). I finished my Rogue Hoodie:

Note the gorgeous Victorian buildings in the background; this is Armitage Avenue, one of the nicest streets in Chicago for strolling, boutique shopping, café-ing, etc.

Just to make sure it's clear that we are in my fabulous hometown!

Showing off the side detail and the gorgeous plummy color.

Technical notes:

I did not make many modifications, except for taking about 8 rows out of the front to get it to match the length of the back. The top of the hood was my first-ever grafting, which was OK. The waist shaping is clever and effective. I like having turned sleeve and bottom edges. In general I found it an easy pattern to work with, and I liked having both the verbal instructions and the chart.

At long last, pictures of my finished Poker, which I have already worn several times:

I am delighted with this sweater. The neck does stand up as I hoped it would, the zigzag pattern is great, and the proportions are almost perfect. I say "almost" because I could have made the body about an inch longer and would feel more comfortable wearing it with some of my lower-waisted jeans and pants. The yarn is delicious.

I learned two important technique and design modification things in this project:

1. I am short from chest to shoulder. I did modify the length of the area over which I did the raglan decrease, as I mentioned before in my dissatisfaction with my lack of modification in the Ariann pattern. Shortening it by about an inch seems to be the right thing to do.

2. Knitting bottom-up in the round, but knitting the sleeves flat and attaching them at the underarm. I was much happier doing this, and sewing up the sleeves afterward, than doing the sleeves in the round.

All in all, a wonderful project!

It's all over except for the end-weaving:

I haven't tried it on yet, but I'm pretty pleased with it thus far. And glad it's done!

Mid-July saw a knitting hiatus on the lopi sweater because it was just too dang humid, but about a week and a half ago I finished it:

And a closeup of the yoke:

I loved working on this sweater; two-color stranding is fun, the yarn is wonderfully woolly and lofty, and the yoke decrease technique is particularly gratifying. The other detail of this pattern that I particularly like is the picot edge on the neckband. I have a tendency to bind off too tightly on neck edges, so the picot edge mitigates some of that.

I still have to weave in all of those ends ... but it's about 85 degrees here, so there's no rush, because I won't be able to wear it for a couple of months!

And I have lots of yarn left over for mittens and hats!

Finished my Ghost in the Machine scarf!

In more detail:

Yay! It needs to be better blocked; the steam blocking I did has distorted the logo somewhat. But I still love it.

And even if you're not a Police fan, I still think that the GITM logo is one of the best logos ever. I am looking forward to wearing this! Especially since it's snowing outside of my window right now ...

I've finished what I'm calling the Kinetic fingerless gloves/wristwarmers that I described last month:

This was a fast and fun project! These are a gift for a friend, but I might make myself a pair too. I ended up doing the mitt option instead of the individual finger option, because that turned out to be more than my clumsy hands could handle.

Another finished object:

For my friend Amy, using the pattern from Kim at Yarn Abuse. The yarn is Malabrigo merino in yummy sea-themed shades. Perfect for this chilly weather.

Amy's having a big day here, because I've also finally finished the vest for her son too:

The pattern is a basic Lion brand child's cable vest, and the yarn is Ella Rae Classic worsted.

Graeme has a ginormous head (as do most kids these days, apparently!), so I had to modify one of the shoulders so it would button:

Another neckwarmer, this one for me, in Lobster Pot handpainted cashmere:

Perfect for spring!

Finally, the Sitcom chic cardi in Filatura di Crosa 127. It's blocking:

Can't wait to wear it!

And she's going to the Bay Area with me this weekend!

Great pattern, great yarn, great sweater. The colors are doing a strange pooling in the torso, but it doesn't really bother me. The top-down construction meant that I had only four ends to weave in, so it's ready to wear!