Thursday, November 29, 2007

Swatch #234,531

November Pictures 013November Pictures 016
This is the color combo I settled on, what do you guys think?

Monday, November 26, 2007

How about an Autumn Rose Tam?

I have been pondering how to make an Autumn Rose Tam. I have to knit my sweater first but since that is on hold in favor of Christmas Knitting, I have been thinking about an Autumn Rose tam a lot. So, here's what I have so far.

The band done in Autumn Rose corrugated rib.
Increases done in the triangular pattern between the medallions.
A band of the Sunrise/Madder pattern that is between the medallion bands.
The Center done in one giant Autumn Rose Medallion with decreases in the background color to maintain the gold frames.

I have been hunting hi and lo for a stitch marker for the top. I think a gold one with fall colored beads but it would really make my day to find one with a little leaf on the end.

As for my progress, I did start a sleeve which is doubling as my swatch. I did allow myself a little time to work on this because I think I am ahead of schedule for the gift knitting. I am knitting the smallest size based on Anne's recommendation about negative ease. When I checked my gauge, I was off, 32 and 34. I was using 3.25 bamboo needles because I am a tight knitter. I ripped but now I have to think about what to do about the needles. Do I use size 3 metal needles or go down to size 2? Frankly, the clover bamboo I was using, not a fan. There was too much memory in the cable and I felt I was constantly fighting with them but that may simply be because I like the 2 circ method. Oh, well. I guess you can never have too many needles.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

New to the KAL

Hi All!

Lots of firsts for me--this is my first ever KAL, and my very first post to a blog! I received my yarn and pattern book for this beautiful sweater a couple of weeks ago from Two Swans Yarn (thanks Karen) and have just been waiting for a free moment to take the plunge. I hope to get started in the next day or so. I have found all your finished sweaters and works in progress to be very inspirational. Thanks for sharing and wish me luck!

I did it!


Iata! I did it!


My Autumn Rose is finished. I am soooooo happy! It's sooooo beautiful!


I had enough yarn to make the sleeves longer and honestly I have a lot left. I didn't touch 4 skeins and I just use a little of 4 others.

But I am quite sure that I will find what to do with them :o)


New...


I am a new member planning to start Autumn Rose sometime next month. I don't have anything except a swatch right now, I have done up colors in Knitpicks Palette because I am risking so little money to have a shot at slightly recoloring it (I just don't look good in so much of an autumn palette). Here is my swatch - the one on the right. The one on the left was my first shot which tried to keep the green family (bracken and pistachio) in the mix, but it was a flop. So I'm going with the one on the right.

The preponderance of Old Gold was what really killed the original yarns for me. I substituted a more golden color, which seems a bit bright, but which reminds me of Elizabethan brocade when combined with the two reds in the diamond band.

I won't be posting for a bit as I am finishing up other projects and need to request the wonderful recolored chart that's been done here (BOO to Unicorn for that awful chart! where the dark blocks are the light yarns and the light blocks are the light yarns and the squares are microscopic!). I normally blog at KnitMe with three other friends.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Sorry!

I'm not sure how I got confused and posted here instead of at my personal blog. I'm sorry you all got a random post about socks. I'll try not to let it happen again. I swear it wasn't a misguided call for attention.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Out of steam right before the finish

I have been horribly lax at actually posting anything as I've been knitting my Autumn Rose, so now that I'm almost finished it I spouted a long, and picture-less blog-post instead. Most of which boils down to the simple fact that I've run out of yarn 6 rows to the finish line. I have more on order, but still...

However, I was surprised at how easy I found it to knit this sweater, and simply gob-smacked when the steek turned out to be a doddle! I can't believe I've let steeks frighten me so much for so long *sigh*. I can't wait to actually bind off the last stitch, sew in the last end, and block it; once that is done, my Autum Rose will have the distinction of being not only the first sweater I've ever steeked, but the first sweater I've ever finished. Yay for me!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

DOH!


I was just sitting here admiring the first sleeve of my sweater and noticed a mistake. WAY. DOWN. AT. THE. BOTTOM. Where the white arrow points there should be another row of "old gold". NO WAY am I frogging this so now this question is do I repeat the mistake on the second sleeve so they match or do it correctly?

If I do the second sleeve correctly there is a small chance I would go back and cut off the bottom of the first sleeve to fix it instead of ripping all the way back. However, if I repeat the mistake on the second sleeve do you think it will then look ok with the body will look done correctly?

Mvoing along


Thanks to Anne, my patterning looks so much better! More details at my blog.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Hello again!


Hi,

I received the yarn and the book last saturday. I have been working on it everyday since.

It's the first time I work with the Spindrift and to tell the truth it broke twice when I was casting on (when I had only a few more stiches to CO). No problems since but I nearly went crazy.
Am I the only one?

Another question : how to know if I have enough yarn to increase the sleeves length?

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Which yarn in which hand

Hi Cheryl

I think your problem might be the position of your yarns --

In Autumn Rose -- the reds are the background and the golds are the pattern --

If you are knitting two handed fair isle -- hold the red (the background shade) in your right hand, and the pattern shade, the gold, in your left hand.....that way the pattern shade is always coming from underneath the background shade -- it makes the pattern stitch ever so slightly larger and it stands out more.

If you're working with both strands in one hand -- just make sure that you're always carrying the background shade above with the pattern shade carrying along below -- never twisting.
If a piece of knitting is done with the yarns changing position -- it does stand out -- I was surprised the first time I saw this.

Anne

What's wrong with this picture?

I posted about my gauge issues today at my blog and I thought everything was solved. I may still be having trouble though! When I look at other pictures, the section at the beginning of the sleeve with the diamond shapes in sunrise and madder seem much more defined than mine. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?! I'm getting gauge now but it still looks funky to me.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

finally started my Autumn Rose!

I´ve been wanting to knit this sweater since I saw it on eunnys blog some time ago.

Unfortunately... I created myself a little problem. I didn´t swatch, as I´m normally right on gauge for nearly everything. So I just got started. After about 12cm I realized that the sweater was HUGE, and rechecked everything.
Ooops! I was using 3.5mm needles instead of 3mm as called for in the pattern. But the sweater was really huge, so I did a swatch with 2.5mm, which turned out to be perfect. Ripped the whole thing, restarted a size smaller on the thinner needles.

Et voila! I´m about 1cm into the 3stockinette-1purl edge at the bottom. A bit of a deja-vu, really...
Oh well, I´ll get there, and I´ll share some progress photos when I get a bit further.

By the way, living in Norway, I was a bit at a loss about how to get the yarn. She Ewe Knits in Canada solved the problem for me, and I´m very happy with the service :)

Visit my blog at http://strikkebloggen.blogspot.com

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Eek!

Eek! A Steek!

More pictures and verbiage here, but right now? I think I need to go sit down....

--Deb