After Core, I intended to turn my attention to this:



That is the sweet twinset from one of my Top Five Favorite Books, Vintage Knits, with the requisite Rowan Linen Drape. On the left is Amazon, sage green, and the right is Reed, light green. I planned to do the Ribbed Cardigan with the darker shade and the Lacey Tee with the pale.

Unfortunately, Core took so much longer than expected. I decided Sunday, partially because it got almost HOT outside, I wasn’t going to be able to finish the Cardy before summer arrived. I shoved it the end of the Summer List and went ahead with the Lacey Tee.

Here’s my lovely swatch and a better image of the Tee:



I got gauge with the specified needle size -- woo hoo -- but there ought to be a law against giving gauge over a rib pattern.

Where to start?

First off: Seaming Yarn. Since you pre-shrink all the denim pieces for this I spent a while thinking about what yarn to use for the seams. Of course one could pre-shrink some of the denim, but how? I decided to un-ravel my swatch and use that yarn. I think it worked pretty well. My main concern was that it had been knit up, and washed and dried twice, so it might be further stressed by sewing with it, but it held up okay. Another concern was that it would shrink a little more, but differently, when the sweater was washed again, but I don’t see that it did. Score ONE.

I was puzzled by one point in the finishing instruction. The pattern said to slip stitch the button bands to the fronts. I am familiar with using a crochet hook to “slip stitch” two pieces together (I did a lot of that on my first two sweaters,) but that seemed an odd choice in this instance, plus, when I tried it, I couldn’t hardly get my crochet hook through my two layers of shrunken-up denim. I wondered if it was some American/British terminology problem, and I looked all over the internet to find a Rowan Definition of Slip Stitch, but I couldn’t find it. I ended up backstitching mine. I also backstitched these sleeves into their armholes (twice, see prior entries.) This is still my favorite method of putting in sleeves, and my Confidence Continues to GROW in this area. Hooray!

I think I made a mistake with my M1 increases in the seed stitch panels on front. I tried to M1 purl-wise when the seed stitch indicated and I think that was wrong. Those increases look twisty and faulty to me. I should have just done a regular M1 and then worked it in pattern on the next row. I’ve done that on a different project since I did these fronts and it looks better.

Switching to decreases, I hate working decreases right on the edge (armholes, etc) because I think it makes sewing up harder and uglier. At least for me, with my Unfortunate Seaming Problems. I ALWAYS work the decreases one stitch in, but on this sweater I didn’t want the reverse stockinette part to look “Fully Fashioned.” I wanted to decreases to be discreet, so I slanted them TOWARD the seam, and I’m very pleased with the outcome.

In fact, I LOVE THIS SWEATER.

I forgot to write about how excited I was to see that Rowan 35 overfloweth with BAGS. This issue's Designer Profile article is called "It's All in the Bag." Even though it opens with the extraordinary statement "Bags have been a focal point of fashion since Fendi launched their Baquette four years ago," (Bags have been a focal point of fashion for FOUR YEARS? Uh, what about the 70s? Or, for that matter, the 30s? The 50s?) it is an entertaining piece.

Twelve Rowan designers (both genders, various ages and personal styles) were asked to create their best bags. A little blurb was written about each designer: professional bio and how their designs came to be, and, naturally, all the designs are in the book. Hooray! There are a couple I will probably make, and a couple I WON’T. (Did I ever say I never met a bag I didn’t like? Huh, imagine that.)

On the subject of bags, here’s a Slightly Too Orange Photo of the first half of my Camel Bag:



You can’t see in this photo that my colorwork is a little bumpy. I don’t mind it, though. Have I mentioned lately how much I hate loop stitch? After this project, I wish to Never Loop Again.

I am under the influence of Tylenol Allergy Sinus medicine, so please disregard anything in this post that is misspelled or doesn't make a lick of sense.

Core is finally on the Right Track. I don't think I told you all how I tried it on and realized I'd sewn the sleeves in backward. I'd forgotten that, because of the buttoned cuffs, they are Case Sensitive: the right sleeve is the Right Sleeve, etc. I just grabbed them up at random and sewed them in; naturally, the opposite way of how they should have been done. And the sewing has been a PAIN. The Preshrinking Before Seaming had an unexpected side effect: the rows are so squashed together there are places I can barely get my needle through. But the major seaming is done and the sleeves are righted. All that remains is the button and buttonhole bands need re-done because they are too long. A phrase that needs to be struck from Knitting Language: Work button band until, SLIGHTLY STRETCHED, it is the same length as the front. “Slightly stretched” my #$%.

I think I have managed to collect all the Spring issues of the major magazines. All pretty okay, but there is nothing in any of them to lure me away from my Summer Schedule of Projects. Especially now that I am BEHIND. (I'd hoped to be well in to the Linen Drape Ribbed Cardy by now -- March is nearly over.)

I confess: I am GUILTY of Shameful Blog Neglect.

I hate to tell you I still haven't finished Core. I wonder why I always underestimate how long finishing is going to take. It is always a challenge, something ALWAYS goes wrong, and I just don't enjoy sewing knitted pieces together as much as I enjoy knitting pieces, so I always mess around and procrastinate. Plus, I am NOT starting a new sweater until I finish this one, and Not Starting Something New has me in a bit of a Funk.

My Rowan #35 arrived this week. I won't be joining the Audrey Knitalong, however, not because of Audrey, but because of Calmer. The color palette just does not send me, and I can't find anything that would be a decent substitute. I am going to put it on my list for later.

Who has pictures on her blog?

ME ME ME!

May I present, in its cyberspace debut, The Debbie Bliss Noro Silk Garden Scoop Neck Cardigan in Color #45:



Some notes on this work:

I'm almost certain I did not make any adjustments to this pattern. I remember there was a point at one of the armholes where I thought the row count didn't seem right as written, but I went ahead on and it turned out perfect. (I wrote Theresa -- Keyboard Biologist -- and asked her what she did with hers and was reassured when she replied she did the same thing.)

This pattern was easy but rather clever. Obviously, it is all stockinette, but the body is worked side-to-side. The Really Neat Bit is the waist shaping: a few strategic Short Rows and -- Tah Dah!-- a neatly nipped in waist.

I put vintage buttons on this sweater. (If my digital camera battery weren't dead, I could give you a close up.) They are lovely little flat glass cubes unearthed from the stash I inherited from my husband's grandmother. Originally, they were painted black, but, as the paint had been flaking off for YEARS, it was easy to see their inner beauty. I cleaned the rest of the paint off, but I had to clean the posts with CLR because THEY were a little Green. I didn't sew the buttons on -- I used button pins and, not only are they removed for washing, I think it will probably be a good idea to leave them off when I store the sweater, too.

A side note: I left all that Nancy Drew The Secret Of The Old Clock hair on the floor of Inger's Classic Cuts a week or so ago. You'll be able to see my New Hair in the picture of Core.

Diversions -- they are everywhere -- keeping me from finishing Core.

Since it has gotten a little warmer, I've been feeling like I want some lighter, lacier scarves. I drug some yarn from my stash for two models in the Family Circle Easy Knitting Fall 2003: the scarf of round crocheted medallions, which I will be doing in chenille, and the crocheted mesh scarf with little flower trim, for which I have the sample yarn, Lion Imagine.

Also, I've been working on improving this blog. You'll know it when you see it.

Re: Core. I have all the main pieces, the collar, and the cuffs knitted. Remaining are the pocket flaps and the button bands. I WILL finish this before the weekend is over.

I MUST. I have two piles of Rowan Linen Drape that sit in the corner of my right eye while I knit every night AND Theresa, the kind and wonderful Keyboard Biologist, is co-hosting an Audrey Knit-a-Long which I think is supposed to start in April. I want to get in on this! That is my favorite design from Rowan 35. (That reminds me: need to order Rowan 35 TOMORROW, I keep forgetting to call.)

I did NOT finish Core this weekend. When I got to the armhole shaping Friday night, something seemed amiss in the Right Front Matching the Other Pieces Department. I was tired, so I set it aside. It was still wrong on Saturday night and I was frazzled from running around all day, so I knit the collar piece Saturday night. Sunday, I figured out that I had started the shaping increases two rows sooner on the Right Front than the Left.

Then, I RIPPED OUT THE RIGHT FRONT.

Good news, by Sunday eve I had it all knit up again. And I have the collar done. Estimated finish time for this, factoring in A LOT of seaming, is Wednesday. Maybe Thursday. My Sunday Knitting Marathon has left my arm sore again.