Nori’s Stuff

I’m trying to diminish/reduce/eliminate my bamboo/cotton stash and transition into knitting with mercerized cotton. The bamboo fiber is so fragile. Heat it up and it shrinks and becomes brittle. Don’t get me wrong, I love the combo but if the item gets put in the wrong batch of laundry . . . yeah, toast.

I have a bunch of pink or variegateds that contain pink. I’ve gathered them all together and I’m working on a pink sweater. So far I’m about five iterations in. “Ooo! Pretty” has been shortly followed by “well darn, that’s not gonna work” cranked up to 11.

So . . . things I’ve tried. The last is the one I’m sticking with. It’s not so rigid, the colors work . . .

One of the things I dislike about mosaic is the tendency to make a thicker/heavier fabric. It’s why I don’t do Fair Isle. I tend to want to do a stripe of mosaic and then move on. That’s where I am now. I want this to be a stripe that’s not going to limit my use of this garment because it’s too warm.

So the plan is . . . 10 rows of mosaic, 10 rows of the black cherry hued pink followed by 10 rows of mosaic. If my calcs are right the last mosaic stripe should end at the bottom of the neck’s front V. The slipped stitches should perch over the top of the first two helix rows that start at the bottom of the V.

Like any “knit from the hip” project, everything is subject to change without any notice whatsoever.

So, the fingernail story. The fingernail fake French nail matchy thing . . . yeah, that’s deliberate. At the start it wasn’t but now . . . yeah, I really really mean it. Funny story. I think (truly I do) that the French tip nails are designed to hide how dirty your nails are underneath. If you’ve ever had builder gel creep under your nails during a manicure you know it’s totally impossible to clean under your nails after that happens. Even my nail brush doesn’t get them clean. So, polish to the rescue, right? I was watching a knitting vid and I happened to notice she’d used a polish on her nail tips that blended so well you wouldn’t have known it if you didn’t know what was going on. I had to laugh and admire what she’d done. Good on you girl! I’m a little more blatant than that. Color to match my knitting? Oh yeah, and lets hide the intermittent discoloration under there due to dyes and stains. Yup, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I did another scrap eater. It took three tries to get to something I liked. I would start and hate, start and hate. Third time was the charm. This is a really drab blue from Hobbii (#09, the source of all the restarts) and a multitude of bamboo/cotton scraps. The theme variegated is Universal Yarns Rainbow Bamboo Cotton Candy.

My scrap bag isn’t quite back into a quart zippy but I’m getting close.

My scrap bag has been getting bigger and bigger. I started out with a quart zippy. I’m now rocking a two gallon zippy. Something *must* be done. This was a quick knit and it’s awesome to wear but . . . it didn’t use up anywhere near the amount of scraps as I hoped. I’ll have to try again . . .

OMGosh! Does this rock or what?!?
I’ve completed the hem for Varsity. I’m really pleased. I chose to have the slanted stripe spike down through the seed stitch hem and I’m really pleased with the impact. It’s not too long and the visual impact is good! Yeah, yeah. Arm is sore from patting myself on the back.
The right sleeve (left in photo) will be Hobbii’s RB #35 to match the work above the stripe. Left (right in photo) will be Hobbii’s RB #08 to match the work below the stripe. That will reduce my yarn stock and drop most of the yarn scraps into my scrap bag. Win win! I didn’t have enough yarn to do a whole sweater in one color so this is my solution . . . celebrate both colors!
Next up . . . sleeves.

The Tahki Cotton Classic yarn I’m working with right now gets really twisty really fast. To fix it I have to spin the cake a bunch of times every couple rows. It’s lovely yarn but this particular feature is just a bit irritating. So, in my new “genius too late” series I created this out of a plastic bottle bottom, some nylon cord, a hinged key ring and a brass fishing swivel. I can give it a quick spin without disrupting the structure of the cake. I plan to make one of these in three sizes to accommodate the different sized cakes and skeins I use.

The genius too late bit is . . . I thought of it halfway through a cake which necessitated cutting the plastic vessel to get the yarn to run through to the bottom which gives the yarn an opportunity to get stuck in the slice. Duh. I’ll remake it without the slice.

This one has been a journey of discovery. This is Tahki Cotton Classic DK and YarnArt Symphony Dream Cotton. The horizontal rows were knit on US4s and the slanted rows on US5s. Here’s the current status, one sleeve left to knit up and the bottom to finish (needs another 4″). I’m going to have a bit of yarn left over, a ball or two I think. The result is fairly spectacular and no one looking at it is going to have a clue how much finagling it’s taken to get the final result. That’s okay. I know and I’ll smile every time I wear it.

My knitting sister in KY shared a vid of a bindoff that mirrors Chinese Waitress. I used it, I love it, I will use it again. I think it’s my new favorite bindoff.

I’m planning to create pages for the different sweaters I’ve knit so I have a record of how I did what I did. I’m hoping it will help me bypass the “learn it again” thing separate from scouring my posts for relevant information. It will also help me add relevant content to all the images I’ve got for each project.

I’d also like a magic something to fix the “genius too late” thing if anyone has something . . .

I’m still working on knitting (for me) the perfect bra. I have over a dozen bras I’ve knitted toward that effort, all saved to document the progression of ideas, everything from strap width to fastening methods. It’s been a heck of a journey and it doesn’t appear to be over yet.

Each time I think I might be getting close to the ideal design I learn something new. At that point I inevitably back up a bit to catch the flaw. The process in and of itself is a challenge with many opportunities for improvement ideas to go streaking through in their naked glory. I knit and frog and knit and frog and knit and . . . uh . . . well . . . you get the idea. The last iteration I knit was partially frogged at least six times. ONE iteration, six partial frogs. Now multiply that by in excess of a dozen iteration. If I didn’t find problem solving quite so fascinating I would have quit already . . . uh . . . except for the need of a really well fitting bra, comfortable, supportive, comfortable . . . something EVERY woman craves.

Each iteration (design alteration) shows me the weakness in the updated design. This latest iteration fail was the simple use of ribbing instead of icord. Yup. Whole bra, one glaringly obvious flaw which highlighted itself in a total fail. No, the bra should NOT do that. It’s a “change one thing, effect EVERYTHING else” world. Not kidding.

It’s the journey, not the destination, right?

I’m living that.

Woot! Overall I’m pretty pleased. It’s not perfect but it’s close enough. I love the neck, love the shoulders. This was knit in conti-rag. I’m hoping it’s long enough.

I’m liking this . . . a lot. I keep wanting to pet it which is a really good sign. Having the back and sleeve caps being different than the yoke is really pleasing.

From here success is what I do next. I’m going to try swapping out one of the variegateds I’m using for the yoke with BP Frosty Morning. It may not work but I won’t know until I try. It *might* be the perfect transition.

I’ve started a mosaic cloud on the back. I still don’t know if that’s going to work. So far I’m okay with it. I need to stop the Shoreline (gray) before it starts to get stripy. Once that happens I may split the Shoreline in half and use it just for the sleeves. Stripes would work there.

I’m trying something different for the top of helix. I’m still doing a sunset but . . . different. I’m not a fan of repeating stuff. I don’t learn new stuff that way other than been there, done that.
The edging is a mostly pink orange, like a pale sherbet. It blends pretty well with the yarns I’m using for the shoulder. The start of the shoulder is two rows of Bamboo Pop Blueberry Swirl and two rows of BP Khaki Girl. Instead of breaking the yarn I’m trapping them with the front edging yarn.
I don’t intend for this to go too far . . . to the end of the sleeve cap shaping, I think. I think I want to use a different (solid?) yarn for the sleeves. I haven’t tried this before so it should be interesting. Maybe a dark navy. BP Anchor maybe though I’ll have to get more. Or one of the grays I used for the body helix.

Yeah, this is not working. The helix bottom is brilliant and deserves a much better top than this. I realized that (or finally accepted that) when I got the helix bit done and couldn’t figure out what to do with the sleeves. So, time to innovate!

Rather than frog the whole thing I’ll separate it at the start of the helix or at the underarm (probably there as it gives me the most flexibility) and frog the top. I can use some of the Shoreline, maybe a bit of the dark blue, add more color, change out the gray I used for the edging and pattern the top after a shrug I made for my sister. Then it’s just Kitchener the two parts together and I’ve got a totally different sweater.

I thought about just separating them at the helix but I’m not happy enough with the top to try add a different bottom to it. And yes, I’ve Kitchenered a sweater together before. It’s only ever scary the first time.

Sunset on the farm mosaic

I frogged my first attempt all the way back. The test fit SUCKED. Totally. The shoulders were too pointy.

In the first round of knitting I got the neckline totally done and realized it would look SO much better if I used a solid color for the back neck and front facings. I sorted colors and picked the closest blue and the closest gray and started reknitting. I got about four rows into adding Shoreline and realized I was making a mistake. I should save the Shoreline so I can knit seamlessly from it into the helix . . . or as close as I can get. So, gray caston, blue shoulders transitioning into Shoreline as soon as the shoulders were built.

I’m questioning some of my yarn choices, one of which is the yarn I used for the neck facing but not to the point I’m willing to frog this. All in all I’m fairly happy. I’m using only short repeat variegateds for the scrappy line of the helix and I’m really liking the effect. I think I have enough variety to finish a shorty without repeating a variegated or using a solid. I think I have enough of the neck edging color for sleeve and body hems. One of the variegateds is the very very very last bit of BP On Parade, now discontinued. I wish I could find more of it. It’s SO useful.

The shoulder is conti-rag with a 12 stitch separation from the shoulder line and a 17 stitch drop for the front. Numbers-wise I’m extremely pleased. All the bits ended relatively together. The vee ends really close to the Point C horizontal line. I think the bust dart line is a little high but it doesn’t stand out much. It gives me the extra volume in front which is really all I need. Plus the difference between “I’m wearing a bra” versus au natural is ridiculous so it’s moot point.
If you’re wondering why there are beads at the center back I have a good reason. if I have to dress in the dark I can tell by feel which bit of the sweater is the back. All the sweaters I make for me have short row of beads,

Things I learned . . . the stitch pick up for the front facing has a new easy and intuitive technique. The other thing is just too complicated to explain outside a video.
I’ve been contemplating entering our local fair for the LAP award. I’m thinking something like this would be a worthy contender. I also have sweater’s worth of Great Barrier Reef’s Wine Bay, a really long repeat variegated (a blue based red version of Shoreline) and this is giving me ideas on how to use it without knitting a whole sweater out of it.