New England's Narrow Road

Do I Dare to Knit a Sweater?

Since I began to knit again, only a few months ago, I’ve saved sweater patterns. They are saved to my “favorites” section at Ravelry, and pinned to my knitting board at Pinterest. I even bought a book of children’s sweaters called Baby Botanicals (image link below) mistakenly thinking that a small sweater might be easier. Ha! Guess I did not learn my lesson from trying to knit booties. Small knitting projects can be just as complicated, or worse, than big ones!!!

As I perused the loooong patterns within this baby sweater book, I gave up on the idea of sweater knitting. Or at least, I had to find something super simple to begin with. Were any types of sweaters simple to knit?

I can’t answer this question yet, but I have decided on one to try. If I don’t jump in and give it a go, I will never know if I have what it takes to create a wearable item of clothing. After much searching, I chose the Umpqua Sweater by Caitlin Hunter. I’ve looked at a lot of sweater patterns and this one tugged at me right away. The sample is knit in a tweed yarn and has a wide yoke with an arrow-like design. Of course you can choose your own favorite yarn to use, which I did. Here’s how that happened.

Finding the Right Sweater Yarn

This is what has held me back from beginning a sweater:

Besides finding a pattern I could follow easily, sweater-knitting requires lots of yarn. Sweater knitting requires many needle sizes as well because the sleeves require DPN’s and sometimes other areas need smaller or larger needles. This all mean expenses beyond what is required to knit a hat or scarf. It costs (lots of) money to buy all the required notions.

Sweaters can be knit top-down or bottom-up and I had no idea which would be easier, or if there was a difference. Pullover or cardigan? Interesting cables and colors or plain and simple? After I began my sweater I found this Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Sweater Construction article which has good points to consider.

Also, I live in Florida. I am never going to wear a sweater – well, rarely. I don’t have that to look forward to. But I do travel to New Hampshire occasionally, where I would be able to show off my knitwear. The fact that I can’t enjoy wearing my finished sweater is a bummer.

The Umpqua Sweater is My Number One!

The Umpqua pattern is knit in worsted weight yarn, and I liked that. The Brooklyn Tweed “Shelter” yarn, used by the designer, was a bit pricey and was hand-wash only, so I looked around for something else. There are a lot of pretty worsted weight yarns to choose from. I needed something soft, warm and easy to care for.

It turned out that I got an e-mail the same day from a local yarn shop advertising the re-stocking of Malabrigo Rios yarn, so I checked out the description and colors offered. I’ve never used ‘Rios’ yarn, but do love Malabrigo yarn in general. And the colors were very nicely variegated which I thought would work well for this sweater. Also it claims to be “soft, warm and washable”. Perfect! (So far I can vouch for the “soft” part of that statement).

Finding the Right Color Yarn For My Sweater

Once I decided to use Rios, I looked on the Malabrigo site. This Rios yarn page shows the beautiful colors and has little “closer look” and ” sweater” icons in the top corner of each color. The “sweater” link goes to Pinterest where you can see each particular yarn knit up into items. This is a wonderful thing!

Often it is difficult to imagine a skein of yarn turned into a project, but here you have links to some things already knit up. The Rios yarn page is where I found my perfect sweater colors.

I decided that I loved the “Whole Grain” color for the main sweater color (my gauge swatch is the image for this post). Then I chose two others for the yoke pattern. “Aguas” is beautiful, but my second choice, “English Rose” is debatable. It’s very pretty, but I may want something different to sit alongside the blue-green color once I get to the colorwork part of the sweater. IF I ever get that far!

L-R, English Rose, Aquas, and Whole Grain – Malabrigo “Rios” worsted yarn.

“Wool and Company” Had All My Color Choices

I really wanted to support my local yarn stores (they are not close, but I could order from them), but neither one had these colors in their shop. I think one of them had the English Rose, but most yarn stores offer “free shipping” over a certain amount. I didn’t want to split my order and have to pay shipping fees. (For the most part I refuse to pay for shipping.)

Somehow, I stumbled across “Wool and Company” and ta da… they had every color I was interested in! AND they offer Free US Shipping – no matter the size of the order! What? On top of all that, they will wind yarn for no extra charge! Double what..???? Yes, they offer complimentary ball winding. All I had to do was ask at checkout in the comments section (see my comment below). So I asked for the 6 balls of my Main Color to be wound. That is what you see in the photo above (3 of the 6 they wound for me, for free!). I don’t have a winder, so I have to create balls of yarn from skeins and wind them from draping the yarn over my knees. To have all those skeins ready to go was immensely helpful. Wool and Company is my new favorite place to shop for basic yarn online.

I do love Miss Babs, and other hand-spun / hand-dyed shops for their unique offerings, but Wool and Company had the name brand yarn I wanted when I could not find it elsewhere.

Wool and Company’s shipping was quite fast. They are in Illinois and I am in Florida. I got the yarn – 8 skeins, 6 wound by them – in 6 days. Not bad.

Now all I have to do is create a nice sweater from this lovely yarn. Fingers crossed… here I go. I’m currently figuring the guage.

See how the Umpqua Sweater knitting is coming along.

Casting On “Dewdrops” Triangle Shawl

In my previous post I mentioned that I was searching for the next project to cast-on. I’ve decided on the Dewdrops shawl, which is triangle shaped, but is knit from the bottom up. Here’s a photo of what I’ve knit so far. It’s a simple pattern that looks nice on both sides. I’m about a third of the way through the rows, but they will get longer and become more time consuming. Once this section is done, a lace border is added. That will be interesting.

I am using Emma’s Yarn, merino and silk, which is hand-dyed here in Florida for the Four Purls yarn store. It was so nice to walk among yarn skeins and see them in person, which I did when the Four Purls Yarn Truck (what an ingenious idea!) came to my area. Usually I must buy my yarn online and hope for the best because I have no yarn shops nearby.

Janina Kallio is the designer of Dewdrops and the pattern is easy to understand, with written directions.

This beautiful merino and silk yarn is called “Main Squeeze” which resembles the color of orange and pink grapefruit juices. We are in Florida, after all! It is soft and silky.

Dewdrop shawl knitting and this one starts at the bottom — Beginning the Dewdrops shawl pattern

The Cold and Wind Are Keeping Me Indoors

Windy days are upon us here in east, central Florida and that makes boating and fishing difficult. My son is a Florida native and can’t stand temperatures below 60. The heat goes on and he refuses to consider going boating. Floridians are wimps.

I know that no one will pity me having to deal with winter temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s… hahaha… !! Wait until summer. That is when I want your pity.

Being indoors more than usual has given me plenty of opportunity to knit. Recently I finished up two projects; the “Let’s Stripe” hat and “Scrappy Bias Shawl“. It seems I always have many projects going at once. I suppose most knitters do.

Update on “Dewdrops” Progress

Been knitting like crazy between a few projects I have going, but I’m almost done with the triangle section of the Dewdrops shawl. It is a very simple pattern, which would be great for a beginner. It’s almost too boring for me at this point. But it is a relaxing break from knitting my first sweater, which has turned out to be a challenge. See the Umpqua Sweater knitting post here.

This is the first time I’ve knit with Emma’s Yarn and it is very lovely. The color is gorgeous as well. My plan for the border is to use a denim blue color, or something dark. I’ll change my mind many times before I get there I’ll bet! I may wait to buy more of Emma’s Yarn when the Yarn Truck visits again in April.

Pink and peach Emma's Yarn used to knit the Dewdrops shawl, which is in progress.

Denim blue Emma’s Yarn is now purchased and wound into a ball ready to use. Dewdrops is off hibernation and ready to finish. I’ve been waiting for Four Purls to visit again so I could grab more of this Super Silky yarn. The yarn truck arrived April 16th and even though I had to pay taxes and not get a refund I managed to spend a bunch during my visit to New Smyrna Beach.

Denim blue ball of Emma's yarn — Denim blue color ball of yarn to finish my Dewdrops shawl.

Now I am knitting the lace border of the Dewdrops shawl with the denim yarn. Once I got the first row done I could see how the stitches lined up. Also I did count them and I appreciate designers including row counts in their patterns. The only place I am having trouble is at the “point” but so far it looks fine. I’ve had to fix a few missed stitches, but that is me. I’m still learning. This is one completed set of stitches and I have one more set to go. The border will be double this width.

Check Out My New Shawl!

I finished knitting this shawl in May. See my photos of this finished project on this post.

Casting On A New Shawl, Which One to Choose?

I have a pattern for a free shawl (Lionberry) which I have tried to knit twice now. I give up after spending another two days of my life getting it started. All my rows end up short, and even when I try to add stitches I get holes in the rows. Obviously, I still need practice.

Now I am searching through more favorite shawls I’ve saved on Ravelry to begin a new pattern.

Types of Shawls

The shawls in my quick drawing show the ones I have made, or will make (this gives away the one I eventually chose to knit!) I’ve decided that I prefer the triangular, half circle (crescent) and rectangle shapes best. I do have a hard time figuring out how to wear an irregular, long, triangle shape like the Scrappy Bias and Vine Pops.

Shawls I’ve Considered Knitting

Here is a list of my saved favorite shawls. I’ve discovered many pretty ones, but the question is, can I follow the pattern? I still need a fairly easy pattern, although I did manage to knit the Vine Pops triangular shawl by Kirsten Kapur in a Mystery Knit Along. I’m still amazed at that.

Danzig, by designer Justyna Lorkowska is a big triangle shape (arrow shape?) which she knitted in a light color (Malabrigo Mechita in “Pearl”) but added a bright variegated yarn (Malabrigo Mechita in “Diana”) which makes bright little dots and rows of color throughout by knitting short rows. I really love this one, but don’t have a lot of practice with short rows. The little ruffled scarf I am working on is the only place I have used them.

Note to self: After viewing the Danzig shawl colors chosen by other knitters, I would probably choose the colors the designer used, or something close.

And… by the same designer, a Free shawl pattern called “Eunni” which is available at Knitty.com, but this one looks involved. It’s free, so I may give it a try. It’s also very colorful, so not sure what I would do with that.

Her designs are quite lovely and I have also favorited Aisling, which is a crescent shaped shawl, and Penicuik. These links go to Ravelry where you can see photos and buy the patterns if you like. I think you will need to sign up, which is free and it’s a great place to find patterns, both free and to purchase.

The Slumber Shawl by Stephen West is so pretty with the wavy edge . I’m not crazy about the color yellow, but the yellow and gray gradient in this one looks awesome. Also, the yarn weight called for is worsted or Aran to make a more dense, warm neck wrap.

Making a Pattern Choice

Yesterday I went yarn shopping and bought a ton of new yarn from the visiting yarn truck so I am itching to use it! (More on that yarn truck on another post.) As I shopped around Ravelry (which can take hours out of my day) I found some nice discounts and deals.

skeins of Emma's Yarn — Emma’s Yarn new skeins purchased from Four Purls

Once I happened across some shawls by Janina Kallio of Woolenberry and saw that she was offering a winter discount, I jumped at the chance to have her patterns. It was buy two, get one free, so I ended up with three shawl patterns for the price of two. Great deal!

Choosing three was tough, with all the pretty shawls offered, but I wanted something other than a triangle shape, which narrowed it down. Also, since I tend to buy one skein of yarn in a color that grabs my attention (like in the photo above), I hoped to find shawls that would take one skein.

The first shawl I chose is “Railings” and is a half circle shape. One skein of fingering weight yarn is used, so that is perfect. The beautiful “Floral” shawl is in crescent shape and takes more than one skein but is so pretty! And my last choice is a unique shawl that is knit from the bottom up with a lacy border added afterward. It’s called “Dewdrops“. I am not sure which one I will try first, but I’m casting on tomorrow!

Finished Knitting the Scrappy Bias Shawl

The Scrappy Bias Shawl was a free pattern I found at Ravelry (link below). The knitting begins at one point and expands outward by using increases on one edge and decreases on the other, which ends up as an elongated triangle shape. It’s very simple to work and can be knit in so many ways.

I liked the idea of the gradient, so I chose colors that complemented each other as they changed from darker blue, green, brown, and red, to light pink, yellow and speckled in the center. Then, back to the same dark colors at the long end of the scarf. Following a pattern, yet doing my own thing, made knitting this shawl fun. No one will have a scarf exactly like mine!

My colorful version of the free pattern: scrappy bias shawl — Scrappy Bias shawl – completed!

Fortunately I was knitting during the Florida winter so I could put on my flannel and wrap up in my finished shawl and not be roasting hot for the photo below. I don’t get much chance to wear any of my knitwear because of the climate, but occasionally it does happen.

Me wearing my newly knitted Scrappy Bias Shawl — Wearing my new shawl

***Here is the link to the Scrappy Bias Shawl pattern on Ravelry, where you will see some of the various styles and colors knitters have chosen. (You will need to create an account to view Ravelry pages.) It could be knit in a solid color, stripes, or using self-striping yarn. Use heavier worsted to make it chunky, or lighter weight yarn would give it more of a drape. Clever people could also add a design of some sort throughout.

I didn’t follow the bind off suggested in the pattern, but did an I-cord bind-off instead (See the video above for “How To”). I had just learned how when finishing my Bay’s Edge shawl, and love the look.

Visit my Knitting, Yarn and Patterns board on Pinterest for more ideas.