Posted in Knitting

The Veronika Cardigan and 10 Ways to Use Markers

Posted on by Kathleen
veronika cardigan knitting pattern
The Veronika Cardigan by Shannon Cook

I’m currently working on Shannon Cook’s brilliant Veronika Cardigan knitting pattern. Seriously cool, people.

It’s knit in a giant T, and then certain sections are sewn together to make armholes. It’s a wrap that’s sorta ponchoesque, but open in front so it’s a cardi. Yeah. It’s its own, beautiful beast.

This pattern is all me. I love loose, long, cozy toppers, and my go-tos are getting a bit ragged. Before I knew about this pattern, I had just told Mimi that I needed a new wrap wardrobe!

That’s just one of the reasons I’m excited about knitting this cardigan. Here are a few more:

  • It’s something I know I’ll wear a ton.
  • I’m using yarn from my stash—Tahki Donegal Tweed in a gorgeous dark green.
  • The construction is unique and the design is clever.
  • It’s part of a knit-along at my friend Kris’s shop, Knit Knit: The Studio, and the group is full of my friends!

Here’s my progress so far:

veronika cardigan knitting pattern
Veronika Cardigan: Making progress!

I can hear you all saying, “Cool, but what the hell are all of those markers for?” Well, the yarn is dark, and I couldn’t see my increases, so I placed a marker after each increase. I needed to have 15 total decreases, and counting the markers is WAY easier than finding and counting the decreases. Markers are magic, and I love them—so much so that I wrote a top-10 blog for Alpaca Direct, all about markers. Check it out, and add your favorite use!

But back to Veronika—what you see above is actually the front. Veronika has a shawl collar, and deep ribbing all around the bottom. The longer rows at left are the start of the back. When the back is completed, the ribbing picked up and knit at the bottom. To complete the cardigan, the back ribbing is sewn to the front ribbing, and voila! Here’s the schematic, which will help this make sense:

veronika cardigan knitting pattern
Veronika schematic: The ribbing is attached at points A and G, on both sides, to make the armholes.

Pretty slick, right? I think so.

This is a lot of knitting, but the textured rib stitch gives it some interest, and with worsted-weight yarn, it’s knitting up relatively quickly.

If you’re looking for a cardi to wear all winter, Veronika is your project. I recommend it, along with a new bunch of markers!

Cheers,

 

P.S. What’s your favorite way to use markers? Leave a comment and share it with me!

 

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Posted in Knitting

Kathleen’s Top 10 Reasons to Love Knitting

Posted on by Kathleen
Galv-400
The Galvanized Cardigan: A Finished Object! (That still needs to be blocked. Does that count as finished?)

I love knitting. Shocker, right?

When I was working at Interweave, I loved it, too, but it was so much a part of work, I didn’t look forward to it like I do now. I didn’t think about it at 3:30 p.m. the way I think each night about that first cup of coffee in the morning; I want to hurry up and sleep so I can have that delicious morning nectar.

Each night when Mimi and I sit down with our knitting—we call it “couching it”—I have a feeling of anticipation as I pick up my project. Where did I leave off? What’s next in the pattern? I hope I get to start on a knit row instead of a purl row! You know the feeling.

I once wrote a blog for Thanksgiving, about about why I’m thankful for my knitting, and I still feel that way today. Here are some of those reasons:

Vera-600
The Vera Cardigan from Perfectly Feminine Knits by Lena Holme Samsoe. I just finished this for my mom. It’s so flattering, and she loves it.

1. It encourages my creativity.

2. It introduces me to new people who share my love for the craft.

3. It loves to travel.

4. It likes the same TV shows that I like.

5. It keeps the same schedule as I do; if I want to knit in the middle of the night, it’s there for me.

6. It challenges me.

I was out at Alpaca Direct the other day, and I was inspired by a list I saw on the blackboard that’s behind the front desk/cash register area. There was a list of reasons to knit, and I hadn’t heard of some of them, so I reinvented my list, including some of those ideas. Check out my new Top 10 Reasons to Love Knitting!

Yours in loving knitting,

1KCsig

P.S. Did I miss your favorite reason to knit? Leave a comment and share!

Posted in Knitting

The journey continues at Alpaca Direct!

Posted on by Kathleen
Alpaca Direct local yarn shop in Hayden, Idaho
Alpaca Direct in Hayden, Idaho

Hello, All!

I wanted to let you know that I’ve taken a part-time job with Alpaca Direct as social media manager. Yahoo!

If you’re not familiar with Alpaca Direct, it’s an online yarn shop that also has a store front in Hayden, Idaho, about 15 minutes north of Coeur d’Alene. The store is darling—full of yarn and gorgeous samples, and it’s a homey, friendly atmosphere. I’m really excited to work with all of the wonderful people there.

Alpaca Direct doesn’t just sell alpaca yarn; you can get just about anything you need there, including all kinds of yarn, needles, crochet hooks, shawl pins, and ready-made alpaca socks!

If you haven’t checked out Alpaca Direct, please do. (I’ll still be writing here, but also blogging on the Alpaca Direct site.)

And here’s a little bit of spring on this snowy day:

Zauberball yarn in Floral Language
Zauberball in Floral Language

Get a ball of this gorgeous yarn and cast on some spring socks!

Cheers,

1KCsig

Posted in Knitting

Knitting patterns for speckled yarn

Posted on by Kathleen
Brain Frieze knit cowl pattern by Susan Ashcroft
Brain Frieze by Susan Ashcroft

Speckled yarn is having a moment! I first saw it a few years ago in the form of acid yellow speckles on a cream base. I didn’t love it. But the more I see this type of yarn, the more it grows on me.

I was at Alpaca Direct a few days ago, and I saw a gorgeous project, Susan Ashcroft’s Brain Frieze Cowl. Alpaca Direct’s store manager Susan Melka knit this version from Frabjous Fibers Cheshire Cat and Tosh Merino Light. The Cheshire Cat is the speckled yarn (it’s the Dreadfully Frightened colorway from Halloween 2016, which is no longer available), and the “solid” is Tosh Light in the Filagree colorway, which is really a light green and yellow variegated. The two yarns work together beautifully in this pattern.

The trick to using speckled yarn in a multi-yarn project is choosing colors that complement each other. You need choose solids with enough contrast so that the speckle stands out, but not so much that it overpowers it.

Check out this beautiful project from my friend Carmen:

The Building Blocks knit shawl pattern by Stephen West. Photo copyright Carmen Wiley
Photo copyright Carmen Wiley

This project is Stephen West’s beautiful Building Blocks Knit Shawl. Carmen’s yarn choices are key to the success of this project; she picked two speckled yarns with similar colors and pulled out the blue and orange for her solid yarns. The transition from solid to speckled is perfect. Looking good, Carmen!

For more ideas, check out this post!

Have fun knitting with speckled yarn,

 

1KCsig

Posted in Knitting

Knitting Techniques: Corrugated Ribbing (with knitting videos!)

Posted on by Kathleen

galvanized1So … I’ve been working on Amy Christoffers’ Galvanized Cardigan for over a year, and I’m beating myself up about it, because I’m knitting it as a gift, and I wanted to get it done sooner. #knittingguilt

I’m knitting this one for our family doctor; here’s the story. Several years ago, Mimi knitted this cardigan for a Project Diary on Knitting Daily (link at end of post), and it turned out not to fit her as well as she hoped, so she gave it to my mom, who wears it ALL THE TIME. In fact, she’s wearing it right now. No joke.

Anyway, Mom wore it to a doctor’s appointment, and our doc fell in love with it. She asked my mom where she got it, and when she heard that Mimi knit it, she asked if she could pay one of us to make it for her, in exactly the same yarn. My mom said she’d ask us, but we didn’t usually knit for other people.

When she asked me about it, though, I said I would love to knit it for Dr. Awesome (not her real name, ha ha). After everything she’s done for our family, it’s the least I can do. And Dr. A is the size a of a pea, so I thought I could get it done quickly. But, as you know, I didn’t.

I’m back to it now, though, and I will finish it in time for her to wear it before the weather warms up. #knittinggoals

This sweater is started from the bottom up and knit to the underarms. Then the sleeves are knit and attached to the body, and the yoke is knitted to finish up the body. The sweater is completed by knitting the neckband and buttonband. I’ve got the body and one sleeve done, and I’ve cast on the other sleeve.

galvanizedcardi-in-progress
The Galvanized Cardigan in progress. If you look closely, you can see a mistake on the sleeve ribbing. I talk more about that in the video below below: it’s fixable!

The most challenging part of this sweater is the corrugated ribbing (I’ll bet you were wondering when I was going to get to that!). I filmed a video about knitting this technique in the round, and I’m working on one for knitting it flat. The flat corrugated ribbing is actually more challenging, and much less common, than working this technique in the round. Since corrugated ribbing is used all the time in colorwork on hems, cuffs, and hats, it’s usually knit in the round, as those things lend themselves to that method. And colorwork sweaters are usually steeked, so you can still knit the ribbing in the round.

Regardless of how you knit this ribbing, the trick is twisting the yarn not in use as you knit so you don’t have a hole between each color. It’s the same method that’s used in intarsia knitting; you pick up the new color from under the old color, which naturally twists the two colors in the process.

Amy’s directions for corrugated ribbing say, “When working corrugated rib, always strand the yarn not in use across the wrong side of the fabric , as for stranded colorwork. This will require passing the yarns front and back for the purl and knit stitches and simultaneously stranding the unused color.” Okaaaaaay …. I had to work hard to wrap my brain around this until I got the yarn in my hands.

This is k1, p1 knitting with two colors, but you have to work if as if you’re using one color, so the purling yarn has to be moved to the back after each purl stitch and the new yarn must be brought under the old yarn each time you knit, which secures the yarn. It’s a lot of bringing yarn back and forth, but once you get into the rhythm, it’s no big deal.

When knitting in the round, I found that holding the purl yarn in my left hand helped me automatically trap the yarn. Here’s how I did that, plus another cool tip about this knitting technique.

So that’s pretty easy. But for this pattern, you also have to knit corrugated ribbing flat, which is a bit more challenging. You have to take the purl yarn to the back when you’re working on the right side, and the knit yarn to the front when you’re working on the wrong side. WHAAAAAT?? I know. Here’s a video that might help:

I can’t wait to get the Galvanized Cardigan finished and deliver it to Dr. Awesome!

Cheers,

1KCsig

Links and Stuff

Galvanized Cardigan Project Diary

Galvanized Cardigan knitting pattern from the Interweave Store

Posted in Knitting

Blocking Knitting: Wires and Blocking Boards

Posted on by Kathleen

I have another knit shawl shawl on the blocking boards, and I used blocking wires on this one, so I thought I’d share it with you.

I’d love to take credit for this beauty, but it’s actually Mimi’s work—isn’t she a great knitter? I did do the blocking, though, so I can brag about that!

Vittorio knit lace shawl by Corinna Ferguson
The Corrina shawl on the blocking board

This is the Vittorio Shawl by Corrina Ferguson, knit from Becoming Art Cielo fingering in the Carousel colorway. Gorgeous.

The shawl gets larger until the halfway point, and then smaller, decreased back to the original cast-on number, so it’s sort of a wedge shape. Mimi thought it was an easy knit, and the payoff sure is worth it, so this might be a great project for a beginning lace knitter. It’s definitely a wonderful way to use up some of that sock yarn we all have hanging around.

As you can see, I used blocking wires to help block this piece. I threaded the wires through each of the points on the border and then stretched it into shape on the board and secured it with pins. Blocking wires are really a godsend! It took me about five minutes to thread the wires through the points in the border, and then five more to secure the shawl to the blocking board. Seriously!

A finished object: Vittorio knit lace shawl by Corrina Ferguson
Here’s the finished shawl. Isn’t it pretty?

If I had used just pins, it would have taken me at least three times as long to pin it into shape, and I’d have had to repin as I went, because I always stretch lace projects more at the end than I do at the beginning, so I need to repin the first part to match the last part. Anyone else do this??

mimiinscarf
Mimi wearing her new scarf. It looks great bunched up and worn loose. I love it!

I love how this turned out; I can’t wait to steal it from Mimi and wear it!

About those Blocking Boards

On my last post, someone asked me about my blocking mats, asking if she needed two sets. I do have two sets of blocking mats (link below), and I recommend getting two if you can swing it. Since they’re individual blocks, you can put them together any way you want to, which enables you to make your blocking board fit your project, and not the other way around.

So, if you’re blocking a sweater, you can build a square, and if you’re blocking a scarf, you can build a long rectangle. I love this flexibility.

Links and Stuff

Here are links to the items I talk about in this post. Some things are available at other stores, too.

Vittorio Shawl by Corrina Ferguson

Blocking Wires from Webs

Blocking Mats from KnitPicks

Posted in Knitting

Blocking Knitting: The Lori Shawl

Posted on by Kathleen

It’s confirmed: blocking works magic. As you know, I was skeptical a simple soak and stretch could fix my mess of a garter-stitch scarf, but it did. The Lori Scarf by Carrie Bostick Hoge is a smooth, soft, beautiful finished object!

Blocking Knitting: The Lori Shawl gets a good soakBlocking knitting is easy, really. I filled my bathroom sink with lukewarm water and a little Soak wool wash, and put the scarf in. The important thing here is to get the piece totally submerged and completely wet. So I squeezed the scarf a few times to make sure it had absorbed the water, and let it soak for an hour or so.

Then I squeezed out as much water as I could, and “squeeze” is the operative word here. Do NOT wring out your knitting, ever. When the fiber is wet, it’s fragile, and you can really stretch it out of shape, or even damage it, if you wring it out.

What I like to do for this step is drain the water and let gravity do its work for awhile, and then gently squeeze the knitted piece until no more water runs from it.

Blocking Knitting: The Lori Shawl after it's soak
The Lori Shawl after squeezing the water out

In the case of this shawl, that did the trick because it’s such a light and relatively small item. If you’re working with a sweater, you’ll probably need to roll it in some clean, dry towels after you squeeze out the water. I do this for almost all of my sweaters, and it works great to absorb most of the excess water. You’ll have some wet towels to deal with, but we must suffer a tiny bit for the beauty of our knitted garments!

Now comes the fun part: The stretching and pinning. I use blocking boards that I got from KnitPicks (link below), which I love. They’re like those interlocking play mat squares that kids use on floors; in fact, I know many people who use those mats for blocking. Why not? (I have two sets of blocking mats, and they’re slightly different colors, so that explains the checkerboard effect in the photo below.)

Normally, and especially when I’m blocking sweaters, I check the measurements that I need the finished object to be and block the item to those measurements. This time, though, I wanted to see how big I could make this scarf, and since garter-stitch S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-S, I knew I could make it pretty big. So I pinned the two right corners and used Knitter’s Pride’s awesome Knit Blockers (link below) to pin the larger end of the scarf in place so I wouldn’t pull it out of shape. Then I stretched that sucker out!

Blocking Knitting: The Lori Shawl on the blocking board
The Lori Shawl on the blocking board. That white piece of paper is the directions for the knit blocker pins, although they’re pretty self-explanatory!

It’s now about 52 inches long and 36 inches tall at the tallest point, and I think that’s the perfect size. I can wrap it loosely around my neck or bunch it all up.

Kathleen Cubley modeling the Lori Knit Shawl

Lori Knit Shawl modeled by Kathleen CubleyThe bunching option is what I’m going for today, since it’s 10 degrees out! And the cashmere (Habu Textiles N-86 Pure Cashmere) will keep me nice and cozy.

So that’s the scoop on this FINISHED OBJECT. I love it so much, and all my worry was for naught. Thanks to those of you who reassured me that blocking would indeed fix my problems—you were right!

If you have any blocking knitting tips, or if you block your knits differently than I do, leave a comment and share your wisdom.

Have a wonderful day, and stay warm.

Cheers,

1KCsig

Links to Cool Stuff

Knit Picks Blocking Mats

Knitter’s Pride Knit Blockers

Madder: Anthology 2—Simple Pleasures by Carrie Bostick Hoge contains the Lori shawl pattern, plus gorgeous sweater and accessory knitting patterns.

Posted in Knitting

New Year’s Knitting Resolutions

Posted on by Kathleen

Happy New Year!

Last year I wrote a post on Knitting Daily about my new year’s knitting resolutions, and I thought I’d do a follow-up and see how I did.

Resolution 1: Finish Kayleen Tee and Zuni Cardigan. Nope, these are still on the needles. But I did make progress. Kayleen is almost completed, I just need to finish the sleeves. This is a warm-weather top, so I’ll finish it this spring. Zuni is in rotation currently; I hope to finish it this winter.

Resolution 2: Knit a lace shawl. Yes! I achieved this goal (it’s not really a resolution, is it?). I knit 198 Yards of Heaven, which I love and wear all the time.

198 Yds of Heaven Knit Shawl Pattern

Resolution 3: Organize my stash. Nope. My yarn is in bins and storage containers, awaiting its final resting place. I have a plan, but it’s not been implemented.

Resolution 4: Donate or sell yarn I’ll never use. Nope, see above. I need to organize my stash first.

So, utter failure. What the hell did I knit this year? I need to look back on my projects, because this review has me seriously doubting I’ve spent enough time with my yarn and needles.

I guess this saves me from having to make any new resolutions this year, though, except maybe to knit more! Do you have any yarny resolutions this year?

Courage in 2017, friends.

Cheers,

1KCsig

Posted in Knitting

Holidays, Knitting, Football, and SNOW!

Posted on by Kathleen
Kathleen and family enjoying Christmas
Here I am with my sister, Liz, and my mom, Lannie.

We just got back from Arizona, where we spent five days, three of them in the pouring rain, and two in glorious, warm sunshine. But all five were filled with family and fun. My sister and her husband live in Phoenix, and Mimi’s parents and family live in Scottsdale, where we stayed. My mom went, too, and stayed with my sister. We all got to spend lots of time together, cooking, laughing, eating, and relaxing.

Mimi’s mom is a wonderful hostess, and she invited my family to join us in Scottsdale for Christmas Eve. It was dinner for 19, and it went off without a hitch. We spent the day cooking and setting tables, and the evening visiting and eating the fruits of our labor. Delicious!

We are big football fans in my family. When I was a little girl, my dad coached football at Washington State University, and my brother and I both went to college there. So we root for the Cougars through good and bad; it’s mostly bad or fair, honestly. There’s a saying that WSU Cougar fans are undefeated, and that’s so true—we cheer on our team equally in losing and winning seasons. Well, maybe a teensy bit harder in winning seasons.

When I was with Knitting Daily, I wrote a newsletter about the Scoreboard Cowl knit-along from Skacel. With my family background in football, I was so enthusiastic about this cool project—you end up with a randomly stripped cowl that corresponds to each game, one round per point. The people at Skacel were so kind, they loved my blog and offered me free yarn to take part in the KAL. So I asked for Cougar colors, crimson and gray. I got through about three games last season, and then I got distracted by something and put down the project. Sad.

The Scoreboard Cowl knitting pattern, in progress

I found it again this year while packing for Arizona, and I decided to take it with me. The Cougs had a great season, and made it to one of the top bowls, so I thought I’d knit on it and record the bowl score in my scarf. But alas, we laid a big rotten egg right there on the field. Terrible game! So I’m putting this project away until next season. Hopefully we can get to a good bowl again and WIN.

In other knitting news, Mimi and I are on a finishing kick: no new projects can be cast on until the new year. Mimi has been a finishing fool! She’s completed her own Scoreboard Cowl, in Seahawks colors, and grafted it together. You have to Kitchener the ends together in the round, which is different than doing it flat. I’ll make a video on that soon for you.

Mimi has also finished a sweater and she’s almost done with two more. She wins. I’ve only finished my Lori Scarf and it’s not even blocked, so it’s not really finished, I guess.

Lori Knit Shawl, pre-blocking
My Lori Shawl, pre-blocking. I hope to get rid of the ruffled edge on the left, and to smooth everything out.
The James knitted sweater pattern by Amy Miller
James by Amy Miller

I completed the James sweater last year, and it turned out too big at the bottom. It’s supposed to be swingy, but I did too many increase rounds, so it was too swingy, plus it grew after blocking. I made it tunic length, so it was hard to rip out TEN INCHES! Since it had already been blocked, the raveled yarn was really ramen-ish, as you can see below. I could have skeined it, soaked it, dried it, etc., but I couldn’t be bothered. I balled it up as I ripped it out, and started knitting again right away.

Check out the difference in the blocked fabric and the reknit fabric. Man, I hope this works out.

James Knit Sweater reknit

The James Sweater knitting pattern by Amy Miller, in progress.I’m using Plucky Knitter Primo Sport in the color Lonely Heart. The photo at left is more true to the color than the photos above.

I’m going to make this much shorter and do shirt-tail shaping on the front and back with short-rows. I also knit cap sleeves because I wasn’t sure if I had enough yarn for the longer sleeves. Now I will, but I like the short sleeves.

We’re back in knitting weather, that’s for sure. We came home to six inches of snow, and plowed-in cars. It took about an hour to dig my mom’s car out, and I was thanking whomever the entire time that I was able to park in my garage. It’s a winter wonderland to look at, but a pain in the butt to work in!

I hope your holidays are happy. What’s on your needles?

Cheers,

1KCsig

Posted in Knitting, Stampin' Up

Christmas Card Season Is Here!

Posted on by Kathleen

This year I’m making about 100 Christmas cards. Good thing I’m not hampered by a pesky job . . . Mimi calls this time of year Christmas card season, and she’s not far off.

I love paper crafting, and I can spend hours creating tiny pieces of art in the form of cards. My crafting space is what spawned my blog title, The Craftermath. Check it out:

craft-desk

It’s the aftermath of crafting!

So far I have about 60 cards done, so I’m on my way. You can see one in progress above. Some are simple, some are much more complex; I enjoy doing both types. I sell Stampin’ Up products, so that’s what I use most of the time, but if I see an idea that I love, I go for it regardless of the products used.

For instance, this stamp set from Lawn Fawn was just delivered, and I can’t even!

alpaca-my-scarf

Alpaca my scarf—I love it when crafting interests collide!

What’s on My Needles?

Still that Lori shawl, but it’s almost done. My gauge is much better with the Addis, so there’s a lesson in there, somewhere. I also blocked a project that I finished last year, 198 Yards of Heaven, a little knit shawl pattern:

red-shawl-finished

I LOVE IT! I finished it in four days at a knitting retreat, and then I put it in a drawer and forgot about it for a year. Sigh. But it resurfaced and I blocked it last week. I’ve worn it twice and my mom has worn it three times. 🙂

I used Malabrigo Worsted for the body and some of the border, and then I ran out of yarn, so I finished with Malabrigo Twist in the same color, and you can’t tell the difference. If I’d have stuck to the pattern, the 210 yards of Worsted would have been fine, but I just had to go and add a repeat (I wanted it to be bigger), so I needed more yarn.

2kathdavenport2016I thought I had another ball of Worsted, but no. And there was no more of that color at the yarn shop, so I was resigned to ripping out the extra repeat, but the gal at the shop suggested Twist to finish it off, and the colors were identical. When does that happen?? Love the LYS staff so much.

I highly recommend this pattern. 198 Yards of Heaven is by Christy Verity, and it’s fun, easy, and QUICK. Lace with Aran-weight yarn? Sign me up.

The photo at left is me wearing my shawl on a night out in Spokane. Mimi and I met friends at the historic and gorgeous Davenport Hotel, and attended Christmas Tree Elegance. This is an annual fundraiser for the symphony, and companies and individuals donate several themed trees and raffle them off. There was an over-the-top Seahawks tree, and I had to stop Mimi from putting all of our tickets in that bucket! Here’s a glimpse:

seahawks-tree

The winner gets all of that stuff! Including the giant TV. My favorite tree was called Gnome Sweet Gnome, which included a lot of gnomes, naturally, and patio furniture and decorations. Pretty cute. We love that event; it’s so festive and a great kick-off to the holiday season.

So there’s a wrap up of my bi-craftual activities and holiday happenings. Are you bi-craftual? Tell me about your interests!

Cheers,

1KCsig