Christmas is Over...

... which means I now have time for blogging again. A lot has happened in the month and a half since I last posted. The new digital camera arrived, so I have pictures again. Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. I knit like a fiend in between, and finished four pairs of fingerless gloves for Christmas presents. I also knit myself a hat. I gave my dad the Celtic cross sweater, and he wore it for the next two days straight.

It's finally time for me to finish my own fingerless gloves, which I began several months ago. There are a lot of projects in my queue that I've put off until Christmas was over: a hat and mitts for my dad to match his sweater, a hat for Paul to match his brown cardigan, an MP3 player cozy and a journal cover for myself. I'd like to crochet Paul a cute afghan with a checkerboard on it, and the checkers to match. I also have a couple of "impulse" skeins of sock yarn that I need to decide what to do with. One is handspun that I bought at a local fiber festival; the other is Lorna's laces shepherd sock in a colorway that I couldn't resist.

On top of all that, I got some knit-related Christmas gifts that I will need to use as well. I used some of my Christmas money from my in-laws to buy undyed yarn, a ball winder, and a basic dyeing kit from KnitPicks. I also got a gift certificate to my favorite LYS. I promised the giver that I would use it to buy supplies to knit something for myself, but I may subtract the yarn I bought for the hat I just knit, since that was for me. Maybe it's cheating, but I will knit something for myself at some point soon, so that counts, right?

Anyway, the holiday was nice for my family, and I hope it was for everyone else, too. Now, back to knitting!

Sweater accomplished

I've done it! Finished my first project that I designed myself, the celtic cross sweater for my dad. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The picture above doesn't show the cross to its best effect, but it does prove that I have in fact finished it!

Having a new project I am so excited about really gave me the kick in the behind that I needed to finish this one, when the stockinette got too tedious. Otherwise, it might have taken until Dad's birthday (in November)!

Now I need to decide what to do with the design. I am considering posting it on Ravelry and debating with myself whether to charge for it or make it free. I've checked, and there are no similar patterns for sweaters on Ravelry. It took a significant amount of time and effort to create the design, and it seems to me that it deserves the respect of being paid for. On the other hand, as a pattern-buyer, I'm not sure I would want to buy a pattern that includes only one size. I think I may compensate for that by offering my suggestions in the pattern itself and email support for needs above and beyond that.

Well, that can wait. Time to start on that cashmere wrap...

Designing my first sweater

I love cable knitting. I took to it immediately. After completing two projects, which used celtic knot designs, I decided I wanted to design something with a celtic cross on it. A sweater seemed perfect, and my dad seemed like the perfect person to knit for. He loves celtic crosses, and I know he will get good use from the sweater. Plus, he's a guy, which means no funky shaping is required on the sweater.

I looked on Ravelry for a pattern, but couldn't find one. I honestly don't believe there is any chance that I am the first person to design a sweater with a celtic cross motif on it. Maybe I messed up the search somehow. But in any case, I went ahead and drew up my own design.

I used graph paper to draw the cross first. I already knew a fair amount about celtic cross drawing from a book about the subject which I bought on a trip to Scotland. So that was the easy part (although it certainly impresses people). Then I knit a gauge swatch with the yarn I had chosen. I had knit a top-down sweater with raglan sleeves for my son, so I knew that the construction of such a sweater is very straightforward. I found a formula for the proportions of various parts of the sweater (neck, sleeves, cuffs, etc) based on the chest circumference, and I plugged in the gauge from my swatch and my dad's measurements to calculate the number of stitches I needed at each key point. A little more math to place the cross where I wanted it and figure out the rate of decreases on the sleeves, and I had a sweater pattern.

I am really impressed with how well it has turned out so far. I have done all but the sleeves. I have decided that I want to do them both at once on a long circular needle, a la magic loop. Only problem with that plan is that I don't have a long enough circular. But that just gives me an excuse to replace my current set of interchangeable needles with the Knitpicks options set I've been coveting for a while. As soon as it arrives, I will resume knitting, keeping my fingers crossed.

Frogging frustrations and new adventures

I had never before had to frog an entire project. Now, I've done so with two projects. Both because of failure to make a gauge swatch. The pair of lovely cabled socks I had started on wouldn't fit over my heels, so I had to frog them.

Last time I wrote, I swore I wouldn't change my ways and start making gauge swatches because of a single frogged project. Now that it's happened twice in a row, even such a stubborn fool as I can eat my words.

I have started on a new project, and my most ambitious adventure yet. I am writing my own pattern for a sweater, with a cabled celtic cross design. And, in an even bolder move, I have announced my intention to make this sweater for my father, and let him have a say in the yarn.

Taking Dad to the knit shop was fun. He was a little overwhelmed, but I guided him toward appropriate choices, and let him fondle a few skeins. Mostly, he just pointed out the colors he liked, and left the final choice to me.

This is by far the largest yarn purchase I have ever made. I hope it lives up to my expectations, and my father's!

Frogged for the First Time

I had to frog my first project last weekend. For those of you who are wondering what I mean by that, it means I ripped it out round by round, all the way to the beginning. the term "frogging" comes from the repetition of the phrase "rip it."

So what project did I have to frog? The yellow sweater I was making for Paul. I was about 80% done with it, and discovered that not only was it so big on him that it would probably fall over his shoulders, but I would also run out of yarn. So, I decided to start over with smaller needles.

I know why this happened, and what I should learn from it. I didn't make a guage swatch. If I had, I might have noticed that it was too large. But I won't learn from this. I usually knit so close to the guage, that it's not worth it to make a swatch. Having to frog a project probably won't change that. I'm stubborn like that.

So I started over, with smaller needles, and I'm about 40% done now. It's looking like the fit will be better, but it's hard to say whether I've got enough yarn. I have some ideas about what I will do if it runs out. I'm hoping I won't have to use them, but I can play it by ear.

Top-down one-piece sweater

After I finished the moebius cowl, I decided to try out a new idea I had run across: making a sweater top-down in one piece. I combined that idea with another one: making your own sweater pattern based on a formula of proportions. But I didn't want to make an adult-sized sweater as an experiment, or even a child-sized one. So I made a sweater for my son's teddy bear.

I made a guage swatch, measured the teddy bear's neck, waist and arm circumferences, and did a little math. The whole thing took me less than a week. And since I used leftover yarn from another project, it didn't cost me anything either.

I think I'm ready to try this method on a sweater for my son now.