hanna birke

me and bobby mcgee sweater

You might remember this.  The cotton gima cardi that I knit a few years ago.  And was not happy with.

Now it's this.

My original plan was to frog the whole thing but I had woven the ends in really tightly and once I got the gold crochet cotton off the bottom I couldn't get any further with the frogging.  So the whole thing went in the cupboard until a few months ago.  

When I finally pulled this out of the cupboard again I felt like giving it another go.  This time I decided to use the bit of cotton gima I had left to knit a loose right front side.  With this knitting I just let go and did completely random purls and yo's and k2tog for a few inches.  Then I switched to even larger needles and did a vague variation of Old Shale stitch for the last few inches.  

For the back and left front I used a crochet hook and did something resembling a half double crochet stitch for wonky sections.  

One of my issues with the original sweater was that it was tent shaped so with the redo I made sure to bring the crochet pieces in for some waist shaping.  I worked the crochet directly on the sweater and tried it on every few rows to see how it was coming along.  The whole process felt a bit sculptural.  And made me wish I had a dress form.  

I'm not entirely sure about that dark section in the back.  I may take it out and replace it with more of the lighter color.  I also wish I had made this v-necked as I'm not wild about that flopping at the top fronts.  But other than these two things I'm pretty happy.  This is soft, lightweight and easy to wear.  

The name of course comes from the song Me and Bobby McGee because once I started working freeform on this I did feel very much like there was nothing left to loose.  

FO and knitting now

I haven't stopped knitting and I haven't disappeared I've just had all sorts of silly knitting mistakes that have slowed my progress.  But I finally have the Moorish Diamonds wrap finished and a new knit started.

I loved knitting the center panel of this (4 repeats of the Moorish Diamonds pattern from B. Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns).  The edging is Wave Edging from the same book and for some reason I did not love knitting the edging.  I messed up the stitch pattern a lot which meant a lot of tinking back.  

I also wasn't prepared for how traditional this wrap looks.  Holy smokes it's old world!

It should be styled with a black leather motorcycle style jacket and a school girl pleated skirt to sexy it up a bit - but lacking either of these items I shown it with a simple black dress that shows off the stitch pattern. 

This is knit in laceweight alpaca dyed grey with an exhausted logwood dyebath.  Like I say - I loved knitting the center lace panel and I'd like to knit more lace - I'd also like to investigate more modern lace stitch patterns.  

Next up is a Guernsey Skirt by Kat Coyle that appears in Ann Budd's new book Simple Style.  

I'm knitting it in some  of the merino I dyed with indigo last spring.  Which means the evil blue hands.  :(  But I know I'm going to love Kat's skirt in this blue-jean blue.  

Kat also has a really elegant Short Row Skirt in Simple Style.  Other patterns that I like in the book are the Kazumi Pullover by Jolene Treace, the Garter Lace Jacket by Ann Budd and the Sixteen-Button Cardigan by Cecily Glowik.

knitting now

I finished the socks for my husband.  They are basic toe-up socks in Sheep Shop - modern colorway.  

He likes them.  I just hope the reinforcing in the heels and toes (crochet cotton) does the job.  

Now back to something for me.  

This is the Moorish Diamonds stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  It will be a wrap and I've knit the first 24 inches of the main section and then lightly blocked it so you can see the pattern.

To create the width I've done 4 pattern repeats by casting on 84 stitches.  I will knit an edging on the whole thing - just haven't decided which edging.  The stitch pattern is a 28 row repeat but the odd rows are purls so that makes it easier.  The yarn is some lace weight alpaca that I mordanted with alum and dyed with an exhausted logwood bath.  

The yarn is so lightweight it feels like knitting with spiderwebs.  But it's such a joy to pick this up and work on it.  And it's relief not to be knitting a sweater right now.

I must say though that I wore the Mr. Lagerfeld Enjoys A Beer Jacket every day last week while I was on holiday and it performed very well.  Warm, comfortable and it held up to travel wear.  What more can you ask for.

jacket done - finally

The seed stitch jacket is finally done!

That only took 3 months of monogamous knitting.  But grumbling about time involved aside - I'm pretty happy with it.  

I wasn't going to put buttons on it but looking at the finished photos I think it might need buttons.

The details again - this is a stash bust using hand dyed merino and a merino alpaca mix.  I knit the body from the bottom up and did waist shaping at the sides and in the back.  It's entirely seed stitch and has set in sleeves, little sleeve cuffs and a shaped collar.  I won't be writing up the pattern because I'm an intuitive knitter and I don't keep good notes.  But trust me - you do not want to make this.

When I was thinking of making this jacket I looked at a lot of photos of Chanel jackets so I called this one - Mr. Lagerfeld Enjoys A Beer.  

One final detail shot.

gifts

We left town for the holidays to visit family and hang out at the summer place for a few days.  And when we came back the mail was full of wonderful, unexpected gifts from friends.  Having friends who think about you is really the best gift.  Rose Red sent me some Knittery yarn in just the perfect colorway for me.  Although my husband has also expressed his delight with the colorway and inquired if that might be the yarn for his socks.  No sir it's not - that's still in the mail.

Luisa sent me yarn from a mill in Portugal - she sent undyed yarn so I can have fun dying it myself. It's a combination of milk fiber and wool and it's so soft.  I can't wait to dye this.  Maybe with lac for a pale rose hat.  

And dear Kat sent me a handknit and felted pin with leaves on it (probably because I'd sent her a zillion comments telling her how much I love this pin)  She also sent a summery card with a bathing suit on it to remind me that it won't always be winter.

I can't think of what I've done to deserve such beautiful and thoughtful gifts - but you can be sure I'm not sending them back.  Thank you friends.  

I'm sure you're wondering what's happening with the seed stitch jacket.  Progress is slow but I'm still working on it.  The sleeves have been knit to the underarms and I'm now working on the arm holes on the fronts.  Then it's back to knitting the sleeve caps and sewing the sleeves on.  The whole thing looks really messy right now but here's a progress photo.

Once the sleeves have been added I'll pick up stitches for a little collar and I'll also knit little cuffs for the sleeves.  

Wishing you all smooth sailing with your knitting in 2009.

seed stitch jacket update

Quick update on the seed stitch jacket.  

I knit the body of the jacket from the bottom up and stopped at 13 inches and took the whole thing off the needles to check the size.  So far it fits well.  I should knit another inch on the body before starting the arm hole shaping. 

But first I'm going to knit both of the sleeves to the underarms.  I decided to use the charcoal yarn for the sleeves and you can see I've started the first one here.  The black and white yarn at the bottom of the sleeve is just waste yarn.  I did a provisional cast on for the sleeve because I may go back and do a turned up cuff on the sleeve. 

In the photograph the body of the jacket looks very stripey but it doesn't look this strongly striped in real life.   At least I hope it doesn't. 

knitting update

Quick update on projects.

The striped socks for my mother have been done and mailed.  Reports indicate they are appreciated and in use.  

Progress with the seed stitch jacket is slow.  My aim was to be at the underarms by today but I'm 3 inches off this.  Many other things requiring attention besides knitting these days.  Well work and photography mostly.  At first I was not enjoying working on this jacket but once I got past the 4 inches mark I became more interested in working on it.  

Waist shaping has been done at the sides and in the back.  There are still a few decisions to be made with this jacket.  Alternating the colors creates a messy front edge so I need some sort of a band or crochet edge.  Will decide this at the end.  Also need to decide whether I'm going to do the sleeves in the solid grey or do the sleeves in the same blue and grey mix as the body.  Will decide this when I get the body done.  

Also made this weekend was a little crochet string of hearts.

A young woman in Japan (Keiko Toyoshima) has a lovely flickr project where she sends out envelopes of paper hearts.  To get some paper hearts you just need to send her an e-mail.  The hearts arrived last week at the  perfect time and I wanted to make Keiko something in return so I got out some indigo dyed silk and left over cotton yarn from the Flower Power scarf and made Keiko a sting of crocheted hearts.  This will go in the mail to Keiko tomorrow morning.

knitting update

Some nice things this week.  I received a lovely thank you e-mail from the person who I knit the entrelac scarf for.  It was guess work because I didn't know him well and only hoped he was a scarf-wearing man.  Turns out he loves scarves and wears them all the time.  It's fun to knit something for someone you don't know well - like using threads to make more connections.  

On the topic of connections Kat Coyle did a lovely post this week with some photographs of young girls creating.  Seeing these young women happily making things for themselves really touched me.  I remember being ten years old with such an intense desire to make things.  My bedroom was my 'studio' where I was weaving, doing batik or making macrame handbags.  Classes and supplies were hard to find so I worked from library books.  It made me so happy to see these girls with a competent and knowledgeable teacher.  They are off to such a good start. 

The first sock for my mother is finished.  Will cast on for the second one today.  When I was a girl my mom had this crazy pair of red and black striped tights, these socks remind me of her tights so I think she will love them.

As for what's coming next I decided to pursue the jacket idea before launching the skirt.  I had some charcoal and some blue grey yarn - not enough of either for a long sleeve sweater but together  enough.  I thought for months about a color block sweater but couldn't come up with anything that felt right.  Inspired by some Vivienne Westwood sweaters I made a sketch of an asymmetrical jacket with a lace ruffle running up the front (on left below) but again this seemed not quite right for the yarn.  Leafing through files I found a Karl Lagerfeld jacket that seemed a better fit for the yarn.  So I swatched again using seed stitch and alternating rows of charcoal and blue yarn.  The seed stitch minimizes the stripiness of the whole thing but gives a hint of that Chanel jacket texture (hopefully without too much of a 50's reference).  So I've cast on for a center opening jacket like the sketch on the right.  

I cast on 176 stitches to knit the front and back in one piece from the bottom up.  After that second sock that is.  

knitting finished, knitting started, knitting options

First the finished.  The entrelac scarf.  Goes in the mail tomorrow.

The one skein of Lorna's Laces wasn't quite enough but I had a bit of merino/cashmere blend that was burgundy and that I overdyed with indigo so I added 8 inches of this at the end.  

I have a few ideas for what to knit next for me but I'm not completely lined up for these.  Also I agreed to knit my mom another pair of socks last March so I've started on these.  Seems like as good time as any to confess I'm not an enthusiastic sock knitter.  

My mom likes stripes so we picked out two skeins of Koigu - one red - one blue.  I'm always worried about running out of yarn so I'll use some left over Sweet Georgia in a honey brown for the toes and heels.  It's kind of fun knitting with red and knitting these is making me want some red socks ... like some unspecified time in the future.    

Gay asked to see a modeled shot of the Habu tunic after the second renovation.  Yikes - I thought it looked better than this.  But here it is.  Still too bunchy around the armholes but way better than it was.  Also in the photo is a smocked silk necklace by Tinctory.  It feels so lovely on - very light. 

I've been of two minds about what to knit next.  I want to do a skirt with some Rowan 4 ply cotton and after having some of the yarn in the dye pot for close to 2 weeks I've decided it's as dyed as it's going to get.  So on the left is the Rowan 4 ply that I will call tobacco color and on the right is the frogged Esme yarn overdyed with indigo.  I don't have a pattern but have a skirt shape in mind.  But I need to swatch.  And with swatching of course may change my mind.  

I also have some charcoal worsted weight and some grey/blue worsted weight.  Neither amounts are enough for a jacket but combined I have enough.  I've been swatching and making little sketches.  I still don't have a firm plan but when I photographed this I got more excited about the possibilities.  

But first I have to finish those socks for my mom.  Or at least one of them.  

knitting now and Flower Power modeled

First what I'm knitting now.  After the crochet scarf I wanted something that would just roll off my needles.  I'd been thinking about a sweater/jacket and also another skirt but wasn't quite ready to commit to either of these.  So I went to the stash - this its turning out to be an unofficial stash bust year for me - and found a single skein of Lorna's Laces purchased on impulse and on sale.  I had no plans for it when I purchased it and I've pulled it out of the stash a few times with no ideas forthcoming.  This time I left it on the couch for a few days and woke up one morning thinking humm ... entrelac?  scarf?

So there you have it - an entrelac scarf.  Shhh though it's a gift for someone who did me a nice favor. 

A skirt might be next - as we speak I'm dying some cotton for it.  

Now to the modeled photos of the Flower Power scarf.  They aren't great.  My husband took a few on Monday before work and we were both rushed so the photos were terrible!  They've been deleted.  I tried again today.  Many photos in front of the mirror and here are two I'm willing to show.  The problem isn't the scarf - it's divine, feels great on and is fun to wear.  The problem is me.  I'm not real happy with how I look these days.  I like short hair during the summer but by September I'm so over it and want longer hair.  I also think I look old and tired.  I'm not tired - I just look it.  

Note to Jane: those beat up Blundstones in the first scarf photo - you do not see those.