Finishing

Y'know what looks kind of ugly on a nice sweater? The back of the zipper.

As Kate Davies demonstrated, the openings on cardigans are much better when ribbon or tape are added to reinforce edges and/or cover them. I've been meaning to take care of this on my Shepherd and Shearer sweaters.

Alas, I don't have access to the fantastic haberdashers of the UK, so I had to beetle on down to the local Joann's to see what I could find. Not a plethora of possibilities, but not bad.

For the Shearer, a leopard grosgrain

And for the Shepherd a really cool white ribbon with a subtle glint of gold, as understated and elegant as the leopard is crazy.

(The gold doesn't show up in the photo; you'll just have to trust me.)


Each of the ribbons suits its sweater and makes it an even better garment and me a prouder knitter.

F.O. Fashion Show

There hasn't been much blog fodder around here lately.  I've been busy but boring. My apologies. Just knitting back and forth, back and forth in the case of the red stripe sweater, and round and round and round in the case of the aqua Trigere.

And now, at last, lookee here:

The red stripes are an actual sweater, one that fits nicely and that I think I am going to like very much. It's quite soft and light, which makes me even more glad that I changed the neckline from the big cowl to a turtle. The only reason the cowl is standing up in the pattern picture is because it's stuffed full of scarf. On its own, the cowl would just sigh and flop down. An even sloppier look than the soup-stained standup in the picture. (No, there are no soup spots on the model in the picture. She doubtless is a much tidier soup-slurper than I.)

And the aqua Trigere is done. I like the way the beaded lace inserts turned out. The fit's a little closer than I would like, but I think time and more hard work will take care of that.

 Finished Objects mean an opportunity to get a new Object started. And I do believe, posing coyly in the pansy patch, you can discern the beginning of another Fassett stripe sweater, one in more solemn and subtle tones:

Viola is Done!!

 She's done! All knitted, all blocked, all sewn together, and all edged in attached Garnet Heather i-cord.

She's enormous--a blanket and not an afghan for sure. Suitable for wrapping up in when sitting in cold winter sunshine on a sunny deck.

And her abstract glories don't come together in the eye as a flower until you're quite a distance away. To get this full shot I had to spread her out on a tarp on the driveway and lean over the deck rail with the camera, about 15 feet above. But isn't she a beauty?

She will be, I fear, a rather tender flower for all her size and weight. I shudder to think of having to wash and re-block her if something should spill. And she's made of garter stitch, which can stretch too much and get saggy easily. The multi directions of the squares and all the seams add some stability, but still... Should I be seized with a similar madness again, or for the benefit of anyone contemplating such a project, I would knit in a tighter gauge than the one prescribed. Goodness knows, a smaller overall size would be ok, and more density would make it even warmer.

Meanwhile, I think it's time for a well-earned cup of tea on a sunny winter deck.

A Tale of Many Tails

Still diligently sewing away, block by block, joining the parts to the whole. And while the stitching continues, a small diversion. What happens when you make a giant project out of 13 different colors in 206 individual little pieces that then are put together? Tails, that's what. Bajillions of ends that have to be woven in and trimmed. Take a look:

Very early in the sewing process, I was impressed by the pile of clipped-off ends that mounted as the tails were woven in. So I decided to save them all and see how big a pile I would have by the time I finished--a monument to an inglorious but necessary task.

What to do with the pile? I have no idea. A bizarre fringe on something? Stuffing for a cushion? Put it out for the birds and squirrels when they start nesting? If you've got an idea, plunk it in the comments down there and I'll consider it, the wilder the better!

Meanwhile, it occurred to me that perhaps the reason I ran out of a few colors of yarn was that I left tails that were too long, so I weighed the pile to see how much wastage this actually was. 85 grams, nearly 2  50g balls of yarn. It may seem like a lot, but percentage-wise, it's only 5.5% of the original 37 prescribed balls. So, maybe not so much.

And then there's this. Page 2 of the pattern actually says, "Leave short tails. Besides the tails around the outer edge of the blanket, the tails can be tied together [tied? No way! I am not in favor of knots!] and cut short. This pattern uses up nearly every scrap of yarn, so be sparing and take time to check your gauge!" Well, I did check my gauge at the beginning, and it was fine. And I thought that it would be useful and conserving of yarn if I left some long ends, especially at corners, to use for sewing up later. So I think I'll be content with the fact that it was not expensive yarn and that it was very easy to run out, easy to resupply, and leave it at that.

To be sure, there are leftovers, and here they are:

 Ideas for using up these? A wild scarf? (maybe a bit itchy). Something felted? Your comments will be carefully considered by a panel of experts.