getting away from me

Whoa! A whole lotta time has gone by since I updated. Design takes so much more time than the production part. So many times I tinked back, studied my theory and my stitches and my desired outcome and re-designed and re-counted... it's fun, it's exciting, and for me, it's very satisfying. But it's not quick.

Now my task is to take my notes and my finished items and my photos (and my memories) and write up the patterns. I'm going to do something different with this one, and I'm excited. It will be the second edition of my knitting Zine...

Here's a sneak peek:





The colours have been so inspiring to work with! This is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Saffron Jungle and Lucky, both in Socks That Rock mediumweight.

There's more coming - three more in this series I think, and then I'm going to switch to making vintage underwear for a while.

Thank you!

I received an award! Wonderful Ziarah, who is both a blog friend and a Ravelry friend, gave me the Kreativ Blogger award:



This makes me so happy - I like to think that people enjoy reading my ramblings.

I love blogs myself. I hear a lot of people say that they don't read them anymore, but I do. If you follow someone for a long time, its like a novel - a story of their life and interests. And so many people are so interesting and creative!

I'd like to give the Kreativ Blogger award to two bloggers:
Briley and CanarySanctuary - because they both are always designing wonderful things! I don't know how they are so productive in the midst of such busy lives, but they are! Briley designs for a yarn company, too, and teaches classes and workshops, and dyes his own yarn! Canary's designs are on Ravelry and are all so cute and wearable! I have a goal to make some of their designs this year...

Traveling Sophia

I've been at a conference: Boston!



and this is what I did there (while listening with half my attention): Doodling!







These are either patterns I want to add to my queue, or designs I am creating for 2009... Of course they'll probably morph greatly by the time I actually really do something with them...probably....maybe...

This bottom picture starts with my two Petroglyphs sock pairs. One in the Leyburns of course, and the other - a light sport weight - in the Thuja pattern perhaps... colour matched socks for my sister and her boyfriend. Then, the lovely cardigan from the recent Knit1 magazine - I already have the Manos silk & merino yarn for this in a deep blue. The next is Liesl, a sweet sweater pattern by Ysolda, that I've waned to do for a long time. I've considered various yarns, including a new silk yarn in an Owly colourway that I got from an infrequent yarn shop on a business trip... and finally, another pair of the 16th century stockings, this time in a very soft Lorna's Laces grey fingering weight.

Who knows what will really result from my knitting plans? I just got the new Interweave Crochet and there are at least 3 sweaters I want to make from that - especailly the cover sweater!

The Sensitive Man

I'm nearing the finish of my new design, The Sensitive Man socks. This is more of the Panda Silk yarn - it just feels so good, both to knit and to wear.



The picture shows this big man's sock on my little sock blocker, so it's not really stretched neatly or anything, but you can begin to see where I'm headed with this. In addition to using a yarn that's amazingly soft on the foot, I've creating a shape that hugs the arch of the foot so there won't be any shifting around that could cause blisters. There's a simple smooth stitch for both the foot and the heel and a calf-hugging rib on the leg. All in all, I think this will keep Brodie's sensitive feet feeling nice and cosy!

In other news, I received my July shipment of the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club yarn...Goody Goody.

WARNING: SPOILER BELOW!!!
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Ta Da!!!! "Goody Goody" (It looks like Sweet Tarts to me, or Sherbert Fizz, or Gumdrops, or those Candy Necklaces...)







There is a fair amount of controversy about this month's colourway. Some people are calling it "pastel" and some don't like pastels....others see it as a sweet progression from light to darker shades and have fallen in love with it. I'm wondering how it would stripe if I used a plain stockinette stitch with it? The colours in my particular skein are clear and bright and would look lovely as a rainbow bright kind of stripe...

Only Time will tell. I have so many designs on the needles and hooks right now, I can't keep up! :)

more than once in a blue moon...

It seems like all I'm doing is flashing my stash enhancement, but I can state most definitely that I am designing and knitting! I've just caught the Blue Moon Fiber Arts bug and want every single colourway they have!



From left to right, they are: Calico, Smokey Topaz, Socktopus, and Rocky Horror.

These skeins came from Purlescense, a yarn shop in California. I heard (the wonders of Ravelry) that they had some colours that aren't currently on the BMFA website, and had to call them. They were very very very nice, and beforeyou know it these lovely yarns were right beside me, all the way across the country!

I've joined the Ravelympics for Team Blue Moon and plan to use the Smokey Topaz for a little lace shoulder triangle or scarf.

As for actual knitting, I'm designing another pair of silk socks, this time for a man, called Sensitive Man Socks. My sister's bf has really sensitive feet and I'm making these socks to deal with all those things that can make sock-wearing a comfy experience, rather than the opposite: a soft yarn, a stitch without bumps, a clingy arch, and a snug cuff. There're almost ready to photograph, so you'll see them very soon! :)

Guinevere's Wedding Stockings

Yarn: Panda Silk, soft blue-grey

Needles: Knitpicks DPNs 5-in size 1.5mm

Pattern: My own (soon to be available on Ravelry)



As soon as I saw these socks in my mind's eye, I realized that they had an almost medieval elegance. I could see them in a soft kid shoe strolling across a green castle lawn, or covering a dainty foot as the queen bestowed her ribbons on the knights jousting for her favour. This is the way my mind works - always thinking about legend, symbol, myth, philosophy, the meaning of life and all that...

But perhaps that gives these stockings too much prominence. After all, they are just socks. Just a pair of hand knit hosiery... and yet, and yet....

Aren't all our patterns the children of dreams?

I've also been doodling during meetings. These inevitably lead to designs for knitting and crochet. This particular batch is for some charity projects for children:



I wanted these items to be fast and simple to make and available in either knit or crochet so that a wide variety of people in a Ravelry group I'm in could participate.

As you can see, its a very simple pattern for a small blanket - something to swaddle an infant or to comfort a toddler. On the other side, I'm experimenting with three small stuffed toys that could be included. Simple increases and decreases and then the faces - embroidered - are the hardest parts of these patterns. I hope to get them written up soon with a couple of the completed prototypes, so I can share with the group.

Lately I've been somewhat sad. It's rainy here, and dark, and work has been overwhelming, but it's more than that. It's that I've seen too much of Man's inhumanity to Man lately - people acting in retribution and control, not protecting the innocent but punishing small infractions, wars of words and retaliation, spiteful gossip and condescension. Where the heck have I been hanging out, you ask? Ah, there's the answer - Internet Forums! I wish that I could find a quiet group of gentle people, not without drama but without spite, with whom I could hang out online...a place that's similar to the real life I have here - tea and fibercraft, writing and relationships, charity and nature....

Do you know of such a group?

up to no good

I have been having a great deal of fun trying out new ideas for quick and gratifying projects! I guess when the doldrums of summer come, I need a fix that only knit or crochet can fill. I am trying to work from my stash (though I am seriously craving some yarn coloured like pale pink-white cherry blossoms), so I have a few brilliant choices.

This yarn is Panda Silk, in a light sky blue-grey. It has very little silk in it - 5% - and is mostly bamboo, but its soft and slinky and would make wonderful thigh-high stockings. I have two skeins of it, so we'll see how far I get. Kind of embarrassing - you can see in this photo how skinny my feet are (6.5 AA) that means I usually get good mileage from a skein of sock yarn. That whole solid toe part? Yes - those are where my toes begin and end - super long toes! I can play piano with my toes! (Anybody else know "Swans on the Lake", my favorite first-piano-book song of all time? I practiced playing this song with my toes all the time between the ages of 7 and 9) Enough about toes - back to the socks!



This design is one I'm making up as I go along. I have my own way of doing sock toes and I've named it "Sophietoes". If this pair turns out well, I'll write up my method on Ravelry, in this pattern. As you can see, I'm experimenting with a traveling lace pattern. It got boring fast, being not as challenging as I thought it would be (I love a needlework challenge!) but I'm going to stick with it, as I think the finished pair of stockings with be very nice.



At the same time, I'm crocheting the vest from the Spring Interweave Crochet:



This is from an Alice-blue Corn Fiber yarn! It's as soft as a favorite T-shirt, but is very twisty to work with, so that the whole time I'm crocheting (usually 3 hours at a time through Top Chef reruns) I'm muttering under my breath "this is so not worth it - I'm going to rip this out!" But then I look at the resulting fabric and it's actually pretty nice and I keep going. I will definitely repeat what Amy Singer says in No Sheep For You: work from the outside of the ball, not the inside, even if you have a center pull ball! There is just not enough 'cling' in corn fiber yarn to keep the center pull ball together and it becomes a muddled mess...

I'll leave you with the final image of my lunch today - homemade bento! I have shrimp and celery salad on a little bit of sliced avocado, and teriyaki sesame rice crackers with yogurt-dill dip, and finally a few ripe cherries.



What are you eating today, on the first day of summer?

Candied Apples

The Candy Apple Stockings are finished! This was a long knit, because I knit and crocheted so many other things at the same time!



I used Regia Colour (machine washable sock yarn that is also Soft!), 2 balls, which I got at Patternworks after Christmas. Needles are Knitpicks Harmony double-points, size US 1.5

These were knit toe-up, on 60 stitches for the foot and leg, in a K2 P1 pattern, with occasional 3 stitch increases for shaping, directly in the back. I made two sets of increases about an inch apart on the lower calf, and one set of increases on the upper calf.



As you can see, these increases were made over a set of 4 rows, increasing in the purl stitch with ordinary m1 increases. So, you have p1 k3, p1, k3 going. One the first increase round you p1, k3, kf&b in the purl stitch, k3 according to the regular pattern. Next round, when you get to that place, you p1, k3, p1, kf&b in the stitch made on the previous round, k3, continue in pattern. In the next round when you get to that place, you p1, k3, pl, k1, kf&b in the stitch just made, k3 and continue in regular pattern. Next, p1, k3, p1, k2, kf&b, k3, continue. Next, p1, k3, p1, k3, p1, k3 and there you are back to your regular pattern with a nice little v-shaped increase up the center back of your stocking!



The ribbing at the top is a full 2 inches of K1P1 with a stretchy sewn bind-off. I used every bit of each skein and they came out exactly the same length.

I love this yarn! The colour is a perfect candied apple red. There are accents of grey and gold in there too but they mostly blend into the red to make this very gorgeous sweet red.



I seem to be on a red kick lately, don't I?

accordian pleats

If you're like me, you snatch up the Antropologie catalog as soon as it hits the mat under the mail slot and quickly thumb through looking for gorgeous knits that inspire you. This is the sweater that caught my eye this week:



As usual, the designers took a simple silhouette and made it amazing with the shape, colour palette and stitches used... In this case, knit and purl.... and maybe a few Yarn-overs.

This is my take on the design:

Materials - fingering weight alpaca, or alpaca and wool, or silk and wool. It needs to be a springy yarn - meaning, one that will hold its shape because it relies on stretching and bouncing back for its fit.
Oh, ... and lots and lots of Ribbon! Silky, satiny ribbon - not stiff at all.

Cast On - I count approximately 160 for the cast on neck edge. This of course would have to be an experiment, subject to change.
Edited to add: I am an idiot who obviously cannot do maths. The cast-on would have to be at least 180 because it must be a multiple of 3. Duh.

First few rows: Knit 2, Purl 1 across, ending with Knit 2. On wrong side, it would of course be Purl 2, Knit 1. This establishes the accordion pleats that make up the design.

First ribbon row: Knit 2, Yarn Over, Knit 2. This is the row of eyelets that the ribbon will slip through.

Continue. These first two sections are repeated three times. This forms the yoke and should cover to the crease of the shoulders.

Sleeves - It is at this point that the sweater would be divided in its stitches - indicated with stitch markers - to divide the front sides from the sleeves and the sleeves from the back. There will be five divisions: Left front, left sleeve, back, right sleeve, right front. Increases for a raglan design will commence now, keeping the Knit 2 Purl 1 stitch pattern all the way.

Continue with regular raglan increases until the armholes are the necessary size (you can see in the photo that they are a bit tight on this model), then set the fronts and back aside on spare needles or spare yarn and - joining the sleeves in the round - complete the sleeves to the desired length. I would do them with no cuff, allowing the accordion pleats to dictate a nice bell.

A note on Front Edges - it looks like the stitches along the front edges were picked up and knit in a tight stockinette stitch after the sweater was finished, but it would also be possible to start the knitting at the very beginning with 4 or 6 extra stockinette stitches on either front edge. I don't think that this method would be as stabilizing to the design though.

Body of sweater - When the sleeves are completed, finish the fronts and back in pattern, connecting them under the arms so you can knit in the round. Knit 2 Purl 1 until the sweater is long as you like, and then bind off using the 'sewn cast-off'.

There you have it - a nice little knit with a minimum of fuss and a lot of cute style! I wonder if a person can get a degree in "reverse-engineering"?

Scarlet Woman needs reformation....

I've heard from the recipient of my newest design, (the Scarlet Woman silk blouse) and there are some reported problems. Sadly, this sometimes happens when you don't have a way to fit the model while working on it. I did try it on myself as I went along, but that didn't have the desired effect...

So, I'll be making another prototype with corrections soon, and will only write up the pattern after I get the glitches tended to. What are the problems, you ask?

The armholes are very tight (may not be the worst thing in the world, as 100% silk stretches a LOT when worn) and the neckline is so wide it goes from armpit to armpit. Kind of weird to imagine isn't it? I am more 'up front' (so to speak) so on me the neckline was pulled forward and didn't seem so wide. But as this version was supposed to be an XS size, its definitely not proportioned correctly and I will correct the design.



I really need one of those adjustable dress-forms to size my knitting designs.
{sigh}

Scarlet Woman

While I have been working studiously on my Sample Knitting for A Stitch in Time, I have had another project in the basket for times when I was in a public setting, etc.

This project is Scarlet Woman, a silk top that I designed to be a vest.

Don't you think the colour looks like American Beauty roses?



I imagined it with a tiny white voile collar and ruffled puff sleeves peeking out around the edges. But when I finished the bodice, I realized that it is a lovely blouse all on its own - a vintage-style design with a low (but fairly modest) neckline and body-conscious fit. It's long, long, long and snug but not too tight. I wish I could show you a photo of it on, but none of the photos I took in front of the mirror came out at all.

Scarlet Woman is now winging its way across the country to its recipient, my beautiful little sister, and I'm hoping to wheedle a photo or two out of her when she tries it on!





I've signed up to be part of Ravelry's download store, and as soon as that happens this pattern will be available there. Right now I plan to charge a small amount for it, to help defray my sister's college fees, but one way or another, it will be available. Non-Ravelers (if there are any in the world) also have access to Ravelry's downloads if the designer makes that happen.

rainy, whiney Friday and vintage blouses

Break time has finally come around here at this ancient brick educational edifice, and break time means Tea! and Knit Blogs! and even Ravelry! It is a dark and cold rain day here. Before the bright autumn leaves have even had a chance to flaunt their colour, this rain will have them down to wash away in puddles...But the colours of dyed yarns on knit blogs are even brighter than maple leaves, so that has cheered me up.

I've been wrestling with a few vintage patterns that I want to make up. Charming as they are, it does take some time and thought to gauge them with modern yarns and update the sillouettes. I like my sweaters long and slightly fitted, with longer, 3/4 length sleeves. Puff sleeves are not for me (unless they are on Dotted Swiss blouses). Soon I'll have this sweater in good shape:
I want to make this in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby. The vintage sweater yarns were often fingering weight and that means that we now can use almost any sock yarn for these patterns from the early 1900's - if we're willing to do all that knitting on small needles! This particular pattern takes a US size 5.

Another one in this same 1937 vintage booklet might lend itself charmingly to some updating:


Its made with a bulky yarn - and my current favorite is the Plymouth Alpaca Grande. This would work up into a very soft, drapey, quickly knit winter sweater.

The next old booklet to get some re-design attention will be the 1920 one with the four vintage knitted bras in it!

and here it is!

The Daliet Blouse from Jack Frost Sweaters - pattern 75 years old

directions from www.unravelingsophia.blogspot.com



“Feel correctly dressed for any occasion!”


Size 14 (32 bust)

Materials:

Straight needles US 2, 14” long and Straight needles US 5, 14” long

8 oz Fingering wool

[Grams to ounces conversion chart here: http://www.metric-conversions.org/weight/grams-to-ounces.htm ]

Pattern: A multiple of 7

Row 1 - *K5, K2tog, YO, repeat from *, ending K7

Row 2 – P5, P2tog, YO, repeat from *, ending P7

Front:

With No. 2 needles, CO 102 sts. K2, P2 for 4 in. Change to No. 5 needles, increasing to 112 stitches at even intervals across the row. Work in pattern for 7.5 inches from ribbing. Keeping pattern, bind of 7 sts at the beginning of each of the next 2 rows, then K2 sts tog at each end of every other row 7 times. Work 7.5 inches even. Bind off.

Back:

With No. 2 needles CO 102 stitches. K2, P2 for 4 in. Change to No. 5 needles, increasing to 105 stitches at even intervals across row. Work to correspond with front. Bind off for underarm same as front. Work armhole same as front. Bind off.

Sew shoulder seams.

Sleeves:

With No. 5 needles, on right side of blouse, pick up 35 sts across shoulder. Work back, increasing to 70 stitches. Pick up 7 sts. Continue working back and forth in Pattern, picking up 7 stitches at end of each row until 126 stitches have been picked up from end to end of armhole. Work 5 inches even. Change to No. 2 needles, decreasing to 62 sts. K2, P2, for 2 inches. Bind off.

Sew underarm and sleeve seams.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Updated (modern) Instructions:

There’s no reason why you couldn’t knit this blouse on a circular needle in the round and avoid a lot of seaming. This is how I plan to do it, eliminating the tight waist and the puffed sleeves and making the blouse long and slim but still form-fitting. I may lengthen the sleeves, too.

Size 32 bust

Note: This pattern could be altered for larger sizes with a few changes:

Add 14 stitches per bust size to the cast on (this assumes a 7 st per inch gauge) . Add length by knitting extra rows in the body of the sweater. Increase the depth of the armhole scythe by working additions rows with K2tog every other row.

If you prefer a looser waist silhouette, add stitches to the cast on, in multiples of 7 per inch to be increased, and gradually decrease as you move towards the bustline.

Materials:

Circular needles US 5, 14” long and 16” long. Size 2 circular 16” for sleeve cuff (optional).

Stitch holders

5 balls (for the smallest size) Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby 55% merino wool, 33% Microfibre, 12% Cashmere approx. 137 yards/ 125m per 50g

Pattern: A multiple of 7

Row 1 - *K5, K2tog, YO, repeat from *, ending K7

Row 2 – Repeat

Front and Back:

With No. 5 needles, CO 224 sts. Join in round. K2, P2 for 4 in. Work in pattern for 7.5 inches from ribbing. Slip half of the stitches onto a stitch-holder. On live stitches, and keeping in pattern, bind off 7 sts at the beginning of each of the next 2 rows, then K2 sts tog at each end of every other row 7 times. Work 7.5 inches even. Bind off. [I think binding off is the best way to go to get the neck to look the way it does in the original picture]. Slip circular needle through the held stitches of the back. Repeat the instruction for the front.

Shoulder seams: seam shoulders using a fairly loose whip stitch.

Sleeves:

With 16” No. 5 circular needles, on right side of blouse, pick up 35 sts around shoulder (this should be a complete circle after seaming the shoulders). Work around even for 5 rows, establishing pattern as in front and back. Increase slightly by adding 1 stitch at beginning of pattern on 6th row, as in: K6, K2tog, YO, repeat from *, ending K7.

Work 5 inches even for short sleeves. For ¾ length sleeves, Knit until sleeve measures approximately 12 inches from shoulder.

Cuff: Change to No. 2 needles. K2, P2, for 2 inches. Bind off in rib pattern or use sewn bind-off.


© 2007 Unraveling Sophia for Silver-Apples Designs; all rights retained by author. This pattern may not be duplicated in any form, including electronic, and may not be re-posted on the internet, without express permission from the author. Links to this original pattern may be posted. It may not be included in any collection of patterns, for sale, without individual and written permission from the author. One hard copy may be retained for personal, non-commercial use. For use in charity or teaching purposes, please contact the author.

Noro sea urchin

I promised photos of the Hats I made for the local elementary schools, and here are the ones I've completed so far:



Starting clockwise at 3 o'clock (which is, in fact, the order in which I made them) is the top-down pattern of my own design (pattern in sidebar at left) except that I used a very thin DK weight, Reynolds Whiskey, on a size 7 needle. This yarn has a raspy, substantial feel, so even though it's finer in weight, it will be warm. And the colour is exceptional! The little stripe is from some leftover sock yarn, which was sadly orphaned and anonymous...

This next one at 6 o'clock is my personal favorite. I made it up as I went along from a vague memory of a hat in the last Harry Potter movie (there were a lot of wonderful knits in that movie!). I knit it bottom up, 68 CO, size 8 needles, Noro Kureyon. K2 P2 for approx 7.5 inches and then began decreasing. I decreased every 4th and then every 3rd and then every 2nd row in the Purl stitches only until all the purl stitches were gone, then decreased in Knit stitches every other row for 4 rows, then in every row until I had four stitches left on the DPNs. You can see this last section of Knit-only decreases in the vibrant blue part at the top of the hat. I then knit all around the four stitches, over and over, until I had a cord long enought to make a nice knot at top. I threaded the tail through the stitches, pulled it tight and secured it, weaving in the end, then tied my top-knot. I love it, if I do say so myself!

The third one is another that I'm really pleased with! It's the ZeeBee from Schmeebot and what an accomplishment to master this seamless beanie technique!! It's a take-off on Elizabeth Zimmerman's brilliant techniques and is truly fast, fun, and easy!. I used the rest of the one skein of the Reynold's Whiskey and size 7 and 6 straight needles. The top yarny-ball is more of the orphaned sock yarn. It looks quite jaunty! The ZeeBee is knit side to side in garter stitch, with short row shaping to form the crown.

My final hat is a bottom-up free-style hat, Noro Kureyon again. This colourway had a brilliant peacock blue and green strand in it, but when I got to those colours, I skipped them so I'd have a repeat of the more muted browns, greys, blacks, and dark greens. It is K2P2 for 7.5 inches on size 8 circular and DPN needles and then I decreased in pattern (very tricksy for me) so that the ribbing continues to the very top of the hat, where the tail is threaded through the remaining stitches and pulled tight. This made the top of the hat look like cable stitching. All it really was, was decreasing the Purl stitches purlwise, and decreasing the Knit stitches knitwise so that a demarcation between knit and purl was visible all the way up. As you go along, you come to places where you are decreasing a knit and purl stitch together, and I always did this by favoring the first stitch on the decrease, i.e., if I decreased P1K1, I decreased purlwise. If I decreased K1P1, I decreased knitwise. At the end Knit stitches predominated and the very top is an interesting delta of knitwise ribs... It looks like the top of a sea urchin shell:
(sorry for the blur, it was the best I could get in my my be-fuddled post-midnight-knitting brain fog)

and Finally - a photo of my Black Rose yarn from Tausendschon in Germany!

Here it is resting gently amidst my vintage knitting needles, waiting patiently for its transformation in to Rose Socks! You can see that the colours Nadine chose for me are so perfectly dark rose colours, with none of the blue or orange that other skeins in this colourway show! I love it so much. My idea for this yarn includes a pattern of roses. I can't wait to finally get to this design!

inspired by Anthropology...

First up, a wonderful addition to the stash from Japan!


My friend Julie in Seattle sent this (along with some fantastic Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab oils) yesterday. I can't read the Japanese on the label, but it is definitely sock yarn DongBao colour 286, and feels like superwash merino, incredibly soft. Interestingly, the symbols on the side say it is 100% something and 10% something else! So it is 110% something. The universal washing symbols indicate that its superwash. The colour, that ocean teal, will be perfect for the socks I have in mind, with a wave's crest of white around the edge using the handspun she sent...

Also in the mail was the latest Anthropology catalogue. I make no apology for being inspired by Anthropology...many and better knitters have gone before me, adapting these imaginative but horribly expensive knits (some of them are almost $400) for general consumption (just Google "Anthropology-inspired capelet" to see what I mean!)...

There are several sweaters in the new catalogue that make my knitting needles itch:

This one seems fairly easy to adapt; a V-neck empire-waist cardigan with a ribbed high waist. Kfb every other stitch after the ribbing to create the slightly gathered peplum. Add ribbing on the 3/4 length sleeves... 100% alpaca for that soft glow. I'd use A Touch of Twist natural alpaca.



This one is also a pretty straightforward cardigan with a low scooped neckline and elbow-length sleeves. I'd lose the ruffles on neck and sleeves, and substitute a simple, loose K2P2 ribbing. It looks like it would work up well in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran....



And finally, my favorite, a bed-jackety-looking sweater, almost like a shrug/capelet thingy... very vintage-looking. This one would take a bit of time to work out the construction: perhaps start with the circular yoke/collar, top-down, and then add the lace bodice, increasing stitches for an A-line and keeping the sleeve stitches on holders. Then go back to those sleeves, those wonderful bell sleeves, picking up the stitches seamlessly and creating the lace pattern while increasing frequntly enough to make the big bell. The picot edge I might crochet on afterwards around the whole sweater and sleeve edges.... Rowan Soft Baby for this one - I think they even make this very vintage powder blue!



{{sigh}} So many ideas, so little time...

GoF - Not just a movie!

When I got home from seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, my head was swimming with all the knitted garments I saw! The creative center of my brain kept urging "remember these remember these!" so I quickly sketched out the ones that I remembered best and noted all the details of colour and stitch. This is what I did:



The first one was Ginny Weasley's hooded sweater. It was done in grey wool in garter stitch, had a zip-up front, and a hood. The point of the hood, the zipper pull, and each cuffless sleeve had a fat tassel of grey and orange threads. Around the neck, little orange flowers were embroidered in 'lazy daisy' stitch.

The next one I saw was a hat on a girl in the stadium. It was tan yarn (sorry, I didn't have a tan coloured pencil) - fairly fine - and seemed to be in a smooth knit stitch like stockinet. There was no brim, just a very narrow rib around the edge. Randomly around the hat were little bobbles in tan and green.

I also noticed Ron's winter hat with ear flaps. This was a complicated intarsia pattern which I didn't see closely enough to copy. The designs were in black yarn and the hat background was deep blue - like Maxfield Parrish sky blue. The ties that dangled sown from the triangle ear flaps seemed to be just a simple chain.

Ron also features in one of his Mom's goofy knits again: a raglan sleeved pullover. This sweater was done up in what looked like brown/cream "rag wool". The term rag wool doesn’t refer to anything bad, its a kind of yarn where two colours are spun together for a kind of heathery look. This sweater had buttons on the front shoulders where the raglan sleeve seams were - I couldn't tell if the sweater actually opened on these seams. The sweater also had a big felt "R" appliquéd to the front. Very cute!

Cho's house scarf caught my eye also - I loved the midnight blue (it looked black at first on the dark screen) with thin silver stripes! The scarf was a very fine 1 X 1 rib - probably done on small needles with sport yarn.

The other house scarves had this same very fine rib stitch and did you notice that the gold of the Gryffindor scarves was a gold heather this year? It seemed to be gold with a very light black heather. Cedric Diggory's was gold with fine black stripes and Harry's was Burgundy with thin gold stripes - both golds used that heathery wool.

The last sketch I made was a pink sweater that Hermione was wearing under a coat (sorry I didn't have a pink pencil either) - so all I saw was the top part and neck. From the little I saw I tried to imagine what the style was like. It seemed to be a funnel neck raglan sweater in fine yarn - probably sport weight - but it was done in a very interesting and complicated-looking diagonal stitch.

I plan to see the movie a few more times while its still in the theatres and my eyes will be glued to the screen to get more and better tips about all the knitted goods in Goblet of Fire!!