D**n Gauge

I've started a new sweater. I chose a yarn that is the same gauge as the one listed in the pattern. I swatched. Went down a needle size. Swatched again. Got gauge. Started the sweater. Ripped out and started again because I can't count to 4. (counted to 5 instead.) Got 7 rows done and measured the piece.

It is 3 inches too wide. Should be 22.5 but is actually 25.5.

So my question is - should I go down another hook size (to an "F")? I did yet another swatch and I'm getting stitch gauge with this hook but not row gauge - the rows are too short (blocking would probably take care of this.) Would the fabric be too stiff? It's a pull-over sweater that's meant to be worn over a shirt or blouse.

Or

Should I make the next size down, using the same hook I'm using now? I measured and if I use the 'medium' instructions it measures spot on for the 'large' size. Should I just go with the schematics and not worry about gauge?

Help?!?!?

The pattern is Fall Forward from Crocheted Sweaters: Simple Stitches, Great Designs by Susan Huxley. I can't find a link to a photo.

Productive

Dick went to a movie with a buddy last night, so I took the opportunity to go to knit night at my favorite yarn shop. It was a raucous crowd (Wii and martinis???) but between laughing and eating I got this done - the sample for December's block a month class - and started this - a hat for Adda-Banana who turns one on Wednesday. (where does the time go?? It seems like she was just born yesterday. . . ) Rachel requested hats with ear flaps for Addy. This is the first of three hats I have planned. The pattern is easy and works up quickly (and yes, I left off the eyeballs). I finished it in about 3 hours. Once I make sure it fits Addy, I think I'll put a single crochet row all the way around, just to give it a more finished look.
I love that Rachel asks me to make things for Addison. I enjoy making them and love seeing them on her. Hooray for daughters who humor their crafty moms!

Oh - I have a new must-read blog. You have to check this out. Ugly Overload. Thanks, La!

Tech specs: Crochet Froggy Hat by Noreen Crone-Findlay. Yarn is Caron Simply Soft Shadows in Fuschia Flare (100% acrylic - washable/dryable). I used a "G" hook and was right on gauge.

Mesa Jacket

I found the perfect buttons in my stash - vintage mother-of-pearl, each a different design, from my Ebay-ing days - and sewed them on this afternoon.Dick took some photos before I left for knit night. It's big and it's bulky, and super comfy. The only changes I made to the pattern were to lengthen the vertical rows - the pattern called for 23 stitches; I used 30 - and to omit the cuffs from the sleeves - I added 3 rows of single crochet with the smaller hook used for the button band. I like to push sweater sleeves up to my elbows to get them out of my way; a tapered sleeve works better for me. Tech specs: Mesa Jacket by Doris Chan, from the January 2007 edition of Crochet! Magazine. Yarn is Moda Dea's Tweedle Dee in Cinnamon Twist (80% acrylic, 16% wool, 4% other fiber); it was easy to work with and the colors are beautiful. The pattern called for a "L" and "K" hook; after swatching, I ended up using a "P" and "N" to get gauge. What I'd do different - the neckline is too big; I'd make the 'medium' size for the top, switching to the 'large' for the vertical rows.

Done!

The sweater is done. The ends are woven in, the third sleeve is finished - I had to frog the first one and re-do it - and all I need are the buttons. I like Kimberly's suggestion to make crocheted button covers but . . . . I want this finished. Right. Now.

I have some abalone buttons - somewhere - that I think would look nice. I'll cruise through the stash tomorrow morning and see what I can find. I'm wearing this sweater to knit night tomorrow, even if the temps stay in the 90's. I may get heatstroke, but dang, I have an FO to show!

Crochet Bug

The loom is warped and ready to weave but I haven't done a thing with it since Friday 'cause I got bit hard by the crochet bug. I've been working on this sweater for a week or so; it's the Mesa Jacket by Doris Chan that's on the front of the January 2007 Crochet! Magazine. I love the yarn - Moda Dea's Tweedle Dee in Cinnamon Twist - and how fast it works up on a "P" hook. I was hoping to have it finished today, but I still have one sleeve and some finishing to do. But that didn't stop me from having a photo shoot and pressing poor Marie into modeling for me. The colors are really wonky in these photos; in real life, they are deep, rich shades of autumn.

The detailing is amazing - the side vents have buttons and button holes (haven't found the right buttons yet . . . . must. go. shopping.) and the main body is worked in rows from top to bottom, rather than around, which gives it a neat ribbed look. Having worked with Doris Chan's patterns before, I swatched like mad before I started this. I had to move up from the recommended "L" hook to a "P" before I could get the right gauge. I think I mentioned that I met Doris - in an elevator - at the Knit and Crochet Show in Oakland? I was wearing the pineapple shawl (Blue Curacao Shawl) from her Amazing Lace book and took the opportunity to show it off to her. She told me that nobody ever gets the same gauge she does; she crochets very tightly. Having that insight, I wasn't surprised that I had to adjust my hook size - I was just glad I had a hook that was big enough!

I love the look of this sweater, but I wasn't sure how it would look on me. So far so good. I made it oversized and I think it's going to be a really comfy, go-anywhere favorite.

Still Getting Ready

Just for grins, I decided to time how long it took me to thread the heddles. I took one short break to rest my back, but otherwise I worked on this for three straight hours. Tonight's entire process took just over five hours. Threading heddles is slow. I'd thread 12, get up, go around to the back and knot the group together. Then sit back down and repeat . . . 27 times. When I finished 4 bundles I tied them loosely together to mark one pattern repeat. After seven pattern repeats, the back was looking nice and tidy. The next step was tying each 12 thread bundle onto the back beam. This is the widest project I've done, so I had to make more ties from 8/4 cotton carpet warp. Two ties broke on my last project - I'm hoping that won't happen on this one. (Any suggestions for using something other than carpet warp?) Now comes the fun part. The back is all nice and tidy, but the front is a huge rat's nest. I need to comb out all the knots and untangle the threads so I can wind the fiber through the reed and heddles, onto the back beam. I actually do enjoy this. I comb 6-8", then wind that on. Comb another 6-8" and wind on. It's very relaxing and meditative. Good thing, since it tends to take awhile. See how the back looks? All nice and smooth, ready - almost - to start weaving. The last step is tying the threads onto the front beam, checking the shed to make sure no threads are crossed (I only crossed 2 this time; not bad!) and weaving 3-4 rows with waste yarn to evenly space the warp threads. Tomorrow - tomorrow! - I can actually start weaving*.

* I may have made a slight tactical error. I don't have a 15 dent reed so I threaded my 20-dent reed at 15 threads per inch. Judging by the amount of lint on the reed, I'm thinking this may be too tight for the fiber. Cross your fingers for me - I really, really don't want to have to start this all over again when warp threads start shredding.

Almost Ready to Weave

One of the best things I learned in my beginning weaving class with Deborah Jarchow was to relax and enjoy the warping process. And that's a good thing; warping can take days - the actual weaving takes hours.

Last night I finished winding 339 threads onto my warping mill. Since this pattern alternates a light thread with a dark thread, I held one strand of each in my hand while winding. It made the process a little faster. This is the cotton flake I bought at the Torrance weaving show. Isn't it pretty? I had to get Dick's help to pull the warp off the mill; I'd gotten it just a wee little bit too tight and couldn't get it off by myself. Yet another thing to remember for next time.

As I took it off, I 'crocheted' the tied threads into a warp chain to prevent them from tangling. That many ends makes a satisfyingly fat little chain. Dick made me a 'third hand' to hold the weaving cross so I can use both my hands to warp. A big rubber band - purple, of course! - holds it in place on the front beam. Several TV shows later, I had half the 25" width threaded through the reed. At 15 threads per inch, it takes time and patience. I loosely knot each 1" group so they don't pull back through the reed. Just the thought of having to do this all over again makes me shudder. After dinner and more mindless TV - all 339 threads are through the reed. Hooray! Next up - threading all those ends through the heddles. In the right pattern and the right color sequence. Think a margarita would make it go faster?

Warping by Acme

Today's weaving adventure is brought to you by Acme Corp. For my next project - a two-tone shawl - I need to wind 330+ ends onto my warping mill. I was struggling to get the yarn off the cones; the angle was too flat, especially as I wound lower on the mill.

I could have run to Commander Woodshop to fix the problem, but he was busy, so I came up with my own Rube Goldberg-esque solution. The two cones of yarn sit on the floor. I needed to pull the yarn straight up before bringing it onto the warping mill. So . . . . .

I ran the strands up my spinning wheel, under the bobbin, across the room, and onto the mill, where they wound on smoothly. 140 ends done, only 190 to go.

Name Draft

I gifted the table runner tonight so now I can tell you what it said. You may remember that this was my first attempt at a name draft. I got the idea here. Although it's called a 'name' draft, you can weave a phrase, name or even a number sequence. In this case, it's a name - Wenona Utter - and this was her birthday present. A short explanation (a more complete explanation is here) of how this works - my loom has four harnesses that I can raise individually or in concert with each other. I assigned each letter of the alphabet, plus the "space", to one of the harnesses. For example, the letters "A E I M Q U Y" were assigned to harness 1.

Using Excel, I wrote Wenona's name, then 'mirrored' it for symmetry, and wrote the assigned harness's number underneath to form the loom's threading - how the warp threads (the green ones) were threaded onto the loom. I did the same for the treadling - which determined how the weft threads (the white ones) were placed. Raising the 'named' harnesses in order resulted in this totally unique design. Clear as mud? Sorry - it's easier to show than to explain.

The finished runner measured 13" x 30" before washing; it's now 11.5 x 25.75". The warp is 8/2 cotton and the weft is organic softball cotton. I really like the concept of 'name' drafts - I'm planning more already.

Special Delivery

A big box of yarny goodness was waiting when I got home from teaching my two crochet students today. This was supposed to be delivered yesterday but UPS mis-routed it to Goleta before sending it south to Camarillo where it belonged.

And what did WEBS send me? Four skeins - 360 yards - of Noro Cotton Hill - nine balls - 648 yards - of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in the most luscious cranberry color - and (clockwise from back left) a huge cone of 8/2 cotton acrylic in 'Denim Marl', a cone of 2/11 silk/wool, and a cone of 2/4 Highland Tweed. Whoohoo! It's weaving time!

Fibery Goodness

Yesterday was the annual SoCal Handweaver's Guild show and sale in Torrance. For the second year in a row, I went with Lois to help sell. I look forward to this event all year - by helping Lois, I get to spend the entire day there, talking to people, meeting fellow bloggers (hi, Jill!) and buying, buying, buying.

We left my house at 7:15, arrived in Torrance by 8:30, had the booth set up and ready to go by 9:30, and I was off on my first tour of the vendors by 9:40. The doors are closed to the public until 10, so it wasn't crowded and I got a quick overview of what was available.

The best thing about being a 'vendor' is the ability to shop all day; I can think about a purchase and decide what I absolutely can't live without. On my first pass-through, I picked up the 2 cones of cotton flake on the right - purple and purple; gee, aren't you surprised by my color choices? At $8 a cone, I thought they were too good a deal to pass up. The other 3 cones - black 10/2 perle cotton and 8/2 Tencel in purple and variegated - I bought at the very end of the day, just before we started packing up. I don't "need" the Tencel, but it kept calling to me. So pretty.Even though I had some money saved up and burning a hole in my pocket, I didn't find a lot that I wanted. The one thing I really wanted - Ashford shuttle bobbins - nobody had.

Lois's booth did well, although we weren't as busy as last year. We actually had a chance to sit down and work on our projects after about 1:00, which didn't happen last year. Can you guess who didn't bring anything to work on? Yeah, that would be me. Lois loaned me a crochet hook, I picked out 2 skeins of this absolutely luscious baby llama (sooooo soft) and started working on a skinny scarf. To top the day off, I sold the weaving shuttles that were left over from the Guild's show and sale two weeks ago and made another $177 $187 for the Guild's coffers!! Whoohoo!

The only thing that didn't sell was the 12" weaving temple. That d**n thing is going on the raffle table in January - I want it gone. Unless somebody wants it now? $10 +shipping and it's yours! Such a deal. It's gone! Thank you, Kimberly!

Weaving Update

When we last saw my current weaving project, I was awaiting Commander Woodshop's assistance with a broken warp tie on the back beam. He came up with this - 2 five-pound weights hanging from a carabiner - which was good but still didn't hold the warp threads taunt when I beat the weft. I finally admitted that I was going to have to release the tension, unwind the warp, fashion a new tie and re-tie that bundle of threads. Which took all of about 30 seconds. Can you tell I'm a new weaver? I spent an hour or more trying to find ways around a task that took less than a minute to accomplish. Oh well, live and learn.

Once the re-tying was done, I realized the tension on that side of the warp had been slipping for awhile. You can see the wave-like effect on the left, and how it is significantly out of line with the rest of the weaving. I found another bullet to bite and unwove, then re-wove about 2". Much better.

It took just a couple of hours to finish weaving, hemming, and removing the project off the loom. These shots were taken before I wove in the ends, washed and blocked it. It's a table runner, about 13" x 30", with a different pattern on each side. The side that faced me as I wove, that I thought would be the 'right' side, is not as pretty as the 'wrong' side. And for the experienced weavers out there - that different band about halfway down? I'm calling it a design decision.

*Accident update: I decided not to go to the doctor; I've got some achy muscles and a couple of really pretty bruises, but nothing more significant, so far. If I'm still sore - or something else develops - I'll call him next week.

Dick definitely got the worst of the deal; he went to the doctor this afternoon. He's got a cut on his nose, some deep bruising, and pain in his side where he hit the console between the seats. And the shoulder belt may have done more than just bruise his shoulder; the doctor wants him to have x-rays on Monday. We're still hoping that time will heal all our owwies and we won't need medical intervention, other than some muscle relaxants. Cross your fingers!

All in all, we were both incredibly lucky. So remember - WEAR YOUR SEATBELT. And if you have the option of side-impact airbags? One of the best investments you may ever make.

Poor Miss Scarlett

aka Not Our Best Day

First off, we're fine. Sore - and I'm sure it will be worse tomorrow - but we, and everyone else involved, walked away from this. We were driving down the freeway when we were hit, spun, then hit again at least once. My poor 6-week old car is totaled. The side airbags deployed and kept us from hitting our heads. The car is squished in on the sides so badly that the headliner popped out; the back passenger side windows are gone. Darn it, I loved that car. Poor Miss Scarlett, I'll miss you. God bless whomever invented side impact airbags.