Doily in progress

A doily (or doyley) - a small ornamental mat usually made of cotton or linen placed underneath a dish or bowl. (from Wikipedia)

Who knew that doily could be spelled with 2 y's...

This is the KAL from the Lacis Lace Knitting Group:
Lavori Artistici a calza No. 11 - Figura 66

Translation can be found on the Lacis museum forum site or originally found on the Yahoo laceknitters group. This is a beautiful doily. I'm enjoying this immensely.

The center is a single crochet over a double loop and pulled in tightly when a few inches into the doily. I started this project using 2.25mm dpns from Lacis, but then switched to US2 circs from Knit Picks because I don't yet have US1 circs. The blue is actually much darker, but my camera...what can I say about my camera?

A bit of it is a little confusing and I might have shifted over one, but hey, whatever. It's a doily.

I've been a bad blogger - FOs

Can't believe I've not posted. But I've been busy.

Item 1: White tomato.
I finished (all except for weaving in) of my white tomato. It's made w/ Plymouth 100% cotton. I dropped the needle size to US6 to obtain gauge (see below--they recommend a US8!?). And did my fingers get sore. Ouch.

Here's the specs of the yarn:

• 100% mercerized cotton medium weight yarn.
• Machine wash. Imported.
• 3.5 oz/100 grams/140 yard/128m hank. 18 stitches=4" (10cm)/size 8 (5mm) needles. The bummer part? There was a knot in every single hank! And when you're knitting in the round, where do you hide the joins? I did it on the side. What a pain. It was such a pain that I actually emailed PYC.

(the picture is wonky because it's sitting on our couch and I was leaning a weird angle.)

But it's finished. I made a size medium. I also had to rip out the neckline because it turned out floppy. The modification I made was that I was supposed to decrease between the markers and I actually also decreased 2 ribs on each side.

Oh, and of course, AFTER I finished it, I checked other tomatoes, only to find that maybe I should have made it in a cotton blend instead of 100% cotton. For the reason that every extra bump on your body apparently leaves its mark on the sweater. Darn. Oh, and it's very heavy. 100% cotton! what was I thinking.

specs:
yarn:6 hanks of Plymouth Fantasy Naturale Yarn in white
needle: US6
time:2.5 weeks? maybe?


Item 2: Zimmerman's Baby February sweater
This was done using 2 skeins of worsted weight Encore. I don't know about you, but knitting Encore after struggling with this cotton...it felt like butta! Well, I wasn't going to start my lace project (cashmere) yet...that would result in me never knitting w/ cotton again.

Anyway, again, much larger sweater since I used worsted instead of baby weight.
specs:

yarn: Encore 2 skeins red
needle: US6
time: May 20-May 27, 2007

mods: I followed the 'pithy' directions (and read alot of Zimmermaniac blog). I knitted the yoke as per spec, didn't like it, ripped it, redid it, ripped again, and well, ripped again when I realized you're supposed to be putting button holes in at the same time. I did decide that buttons don't have to come all the way down the front, and I liked the buttons only on the garter stitch yoke look. So, I ripped again and figured out how to put button holes into the yoke (not as easy as it seems since I didn't want them to hit right on top of the increases).

The sleeves are too long. I made one sleeve, then the other, and realized that they're too long. Will roll sleeve instead (and tack down w/ yarn). Hey, it's not like a's going to be wearing the sweater too soon. It will likely fit a 3 year old?

For her well-baby checkup, we found out that she's now a whopping 10% in weight. And she's at 20% in height, so no worries. Maybe she'll wear it when she's 5.

Item 3: An O.
Oh, I've been experimenting. I wanted to make a hoop out of yarn. So I went to check out the doknit (google the spelling, please) and had an epiphany. Well, of course.

I wanted a ring, not a donut, so I doubled up some acrylic (did I mention that the cotton so trashed me that all yarns not cotton was feeling fabulous?!) and knit this (yes, that cheerio in the middle is for size reference):

Specs:
needle: US6 dpns
yarn: acrylic yarn worsted weight doubled (surprisingly, maybe 1/2 skein)
time: a couple of hours? Most of the time was spent sewing it shut.

Mods: I increased the initial number of stitches. It uhm, turned out a bit larger than expected. When finished and stuffed, I had to double-check that A's head was larger than the hole so that it doesn't become some sort of hanging hazard (her head IS bigger, thank you). I also wanted it to be fatter, so that's what I did. When it was on the needles, the hoop looked normal size, but when stuffed and sewn, well, it's a tad large.

Item 4: a doknit
I figured I had to do it. But when following the directions, realized that yet again, I needed to modify. I used smaller needles, and decreased the cast on stitches. I also decided to do a normal cast-on instead of the fancier ones because when you sew it together, you can't see it.
When z&a's dad saw the finished doknit, he said, 'nice. what is it?'
When z saw it, he said 'cool. you made a donut'. (my very bright boy)

specs:
needles: US4 dpn
yarn: brown and tan acrylic yarn a smidgeon of each
time: the House season finale

Where's the picture? I gave it to A to play with and it's gone MIA.

Picovoli II on Spinner

As soon as I got the cone holder working, I thought I had to knit something fast. I had in my stash Crystal Palace cotton on a cone and I thought I need myself a tank as the weather's getting warmer. I figured I'd make another picovoli since I'm not sure I have enough yarn. Since this is a top-down one piece pattern, I figure that I'll try it and if doesn't work, well, there's always the frog pond. Most importantly, I don't have to cut the yarn. I just have to knit round and round and voila! tank--OR--no tank and cone again.

Of course my gauge is off. Of course. Grumperina suggests a gauge of 22st/inch for this. I got 16 on this yarn. So, with my spidey powers, I worked out the calculations and cast on.

Here's the finished Picovoli:

Yarn: CP Monterey cotton
Amount used: almost the whole cone (420yds/cone)
needles: US8, US9
started 4/21/07
finished 4/27/07
Modifications: gauge mods and I switched to a larger needle after the waist shaping.

The only issue I had was that right at the end of this top, there was a knot in the yarn. I lost about a yard of yarn because I wanted to have the knot on the side.

The only other issue is this. I wore it today and it's dragging (the armholes have gotten larger). Oh, drats! I just finished weaving the ends in, so I'm not in a huge hurry to frog the thing and redo it. I may have to wear another tank underneath. Oh, well.

Edited to add: hmmm...don't think I'll try to take my own picture again...hmmm

Bianca Fini

Milestones on this one.
1) a Finished Object
2) a sweater!
3) One that fits.
4) I like it
5)most importantly, one that I'll wear (in fact, it's already been worn, and I've not even blocked it)

Specifications:
Pattern: IK Fall 2006
yarn: Crystal Palace Flamme (100% merc cotton)
amount: less than 7 balls
Completion time: March 30, 2007-April 9, 2007
modifications: no major change*. 5 buttons instead of 6.


*I think the charts were incorrect. As written, there's an extra ridge in the lace pattern. I worked on the sleeves at the same time on the same needles and finished the first lace pattern, went on with the 2nd, realized it didn't look like the picture, and decided that was going to be my little modification. The first lace pattern has a ridge in the sleeves (not the yoke). It looked fine, so I just kept going, ignoring that one line and purled on the wrong side.

thoughts:
My gauge was off (smaller), so I made a large instead of medium. It's a tad big, could have made it in a medium. Would like to make the bottom as one piece instead of 3. Very annoying--that seaming the panels. Magically, the sweater actually fits, albeit a tad large, even with the row gauge definitely being off.

I did have another modification with the buttons. I found (in my button stash, no less), these cork resin buttons. See how perfect they are for this sweater? I even had six buttons, but I decided on five. Anyway, I had finished off the button loops for six and decided that the buttons were always going to be slipping out, so I only did 2 chains w/ crochet hook and I really like it.


Oh, yes. This sweater took me NINE days to finish! I'm straining trying to pat my own back...

Bianca

I've wanted to knit this sweater since I got the Winter 2006 IK. And I've procured several different types of yarns for this project. In fact, I've got several sweater's worth in different yarns...silk, cotton, wool, etc...

I just saw a pretty one in Cotton-ease when I googled it. Then I thought I'd make one in the new Cotton-ease...argh! Must make at least ONE first, before thinking about procuring more yarn.

Instead, I went into my stash and picked out CP merc. cotton (that's been discontinued). The color is similar to the one pictured here.

Anyhow, the gauge was off, so I am making a larger size. Altho', as I'm knitting it, I'm finding that maybe I got gauge, after all...hmmm...The way the sweater's constructed, I think a little wider isn't going to make a difference (I'm hoping).

The beginning of this sweater is ho-hum, just endless St stitches with a bit of shaping here and there. Will post pictures as it becomes more interesting. btw-- started this sweater March 30, 2007