Sunday, June 28, 2009

Seven and a half little coolie hats

It took a lot of swatching to get going on my latest project. Along the way I made a little coolie hat for the stuffed bookworm given to me by my good friend Bree:



It took me a long time, and I did a fair bit of trigonometry regarding pentagons, before I figured out that the coolie hat would block flat with no problems. Then I went on a business trip, knitted LOTS of little coolie hats and got them wet and smashed them:



Yes, it's the Swirled Pentagon Pullover from Knitting Nature, a sweater I've liked since the day I started knitting. In comparison to the Overdose Aran, it seems deliciously simple and likely to go very, very fast. I also adore my yarn, which is Valley Yarns Colrain in majestic blue. It's shiny, which brings out all the wild swirling these ribbed pentagons have to offer, and was used by both my favorite instantiations of the pattern on Ravelry.

I loved these pentagons, people. LOVED. Perhaps the most delicious part was picking them up from each other; the directions specified using a long-tail cast-on, then picking up stitches using alternately the working yarn and the tail when it came time to pick up stitches. Something about this fiddly process had me utterly charmed, maybe the neat twist made by the two yarns on the back, or the way the pentagons so cleanly line up knits with knits and purls with purls.

One peculiar thing about these is that I eventually got gauge on them using size 6 needles, making me wonder how the directions (which call for size 9s) could possibly be right. I think that number may be upside-down. The great Grumperina had the exact same suspicion a while ago, but the errata are silent on this matter, so this will have to remain a mystery. All that matters is that she fixed hers and I fixed mine. I'm hoping to get away without altering the sleeves and body very much.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The very last Hourglass Aran post

This is it... at long last, the FO pictures. :D









I'm certainly glad that my in-house knitting critic approves.

Saturday, June 06, 2009

All over except the final photo shoot.

O HAI INTERNETZ. Guess what is finished? My ridiculously complicated Hourglass Aran. These final pictures of the construction were taken this morning, before washing it; I knew how much this yarn changes when the oil from the spinning comes out of it, and wanted crisp pictures. After the photoshoot I washed it in the bathtub, where it fluffed and softened mightily... so once it dries you can expect one more blog post with pictures of it actually ON me.

Nice detail #1 is how the sleeve underarm area has a gusset, which continues a line between st st and reverse st st that starts on the body where the side panels meet the front and back panels. Maybe nobody will ever see this or know about it except me, but it makes me kind of happy.



I twisted the central cable in opposite directions on the two sleeves.



And, lastly, a shot the shoulder from above, which shows the braided mini-saddles and also the beginning of the closed cabling on the sleeves. I'm very happy with this; it turned out as planned. At one point I wanted to do a different and more organic transition between the saddle and the sleeve cables, but that will have to wait for another sweater. :)