Tag Archives: Ojai

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is having a wonderful Hanukkah! I took a couple of vacation days on top of my holiday time and spent lots of it with family and friends (and some knitting).

My sweater is officially done and blocked and I am so happy with it.

It is bittersweet in a way since I started this when my daughter was very tiny and it has been growing along with her. She is far from “done” but has grown and changed so much. I looked back at the sweater photos along side the baby photos in my phone and it was a wonderful look at the past nine months. I have no idea where 9 months have gone! She has started pulling up and will take steps if you are holding her hand. She has not started crawling, so I thought I might have more time, but I better get on the baby-proofing pronto!

After the whole thing was finished and blocked, I decided I liked the neckline as it was so I did not need to rip out and redo it (Yipee!).

I think if I were knitting this again, I would take the time to do more measurements and math and start at the bottom rather than using the provisional cast on method and knitting the moss rib last. It worked and I got the length I wanted (double the length the pattern called for due to my long torso), but I think a bit more time at the planning stage could have saved me some time in the knitting stage. Other than that I am totally happy with the pattern and have some skeins of my 2012 share yarn in Ojai leftover for another project. I am not sure what yet, but I have been on a cowl kick lately, so a cowl is a definite possibility.

One thing I tried differently this time was a method of spinning my project dry. I got the idea from this post. I used my salad spinner (the sweater JUST barely fit) and it really sped up the drying time, without damaging the sweater. This will go in my regular washing and blocking routine now.

I very rarely work on one project at a time. Last week in addition to finishing this sweater, I managed to make a pair of Stay Put Baby Mitts        for my daughter out of a small portion of my 2013 share yarn that I opted to get natural and in DK. OMG! That stuff is like knitting with clouds. And they really do stay on.

If you have not yet bought a share of JMF yarn, I encourage you to do so. It is always exciting to watch the sheep throughout the year and then to get this wonderful package of farm fresh yarn. If you are not a fiber artist, this would also make a great Christmas gift for a loved one.

Jessica lives in the cesspool of sin (aka: Asheville, NC) with her husband and Superbaby.  She enjoys knitting, spinning, hiking and has recently become obsessed with Downton Abby and True Blood.  She continues her search for a way to keep work from cutting into her crafting time.

Since my last post, I have made some progress, but it feels so very slow to me.  In the past I have knit entire sweaters in 2 weeks, but with a baby around I cannot knit at that pace.

Before I cast on, I decided to make some modifications to the sweater.  First I cast on in the middle of the sweater with a provisional cast on so that I can make it as long as I want.  I am quite short, but my torso is very long.  This does present a problem in that I will have fewer stitches going down than up, but since I am placing the cast on at a break between stitch patterns I will be able to hide this inconsistency.  More on this when I get to the final section of the knitting.

Second, I determined that the XL size was the best “starting size” but that I would need to make some adjustments to fit other areas of my body.  Since I am currently nursing a baby, my ahem nursing parts are larger than they were before.  So I will be making the bust portion of this a size larger, on the front only.  These extra stitches will give me the space I need in the exact place I need it. This will result in my having to make more adjustments in the shoulder section, but more on that later as well.

Now to get to the actual knitting!

As I mentioned, I used a provisional cast on.  I chose to do a crochet provisional cast on with waste yarn as this is the kind I am most familiar and comfortable with. After creating my crochet chain, I placed some knots in the end that I will use to unzip the stitches later.  This will help me remember which end to unzip, making the process go smoother.

Then I picked up my stitches and started the 1 by 1 ribbing.

This pattern has waist decreases in the 1 by 1 rib section and increases in the cable section.  Because the decreases are in ribbing, it presents some interesting dilemmas as to how to do the decreases and how to handle the stitch that is left (do you purl it having two purls together or knit it having two knits together?)  It is kind of hard to write about so I will show you.

The blue line is the center between the decreases.  I tried it first with 2 knits next to each other on both sides of the decrease.  I was quite happy with the look on the right side, but very unhappy with the look of the left side (notice the odd bump in the pink circle).  So then I switched the decrease from a SSK to a P2tog and used 2 purls next to each other on the left side.

Notice the stitches look smoother and well, “right” in the pink circle this time.  Once I had that figured out, the ribbing went so fast!  I am in more in love with this yarn the more I work with it.  The ribbing is so squishy.

Next up the cable/bobble section!