beautiful things

I love knitting!

I realize that I posted copiously as I was knitting my skirt and then kind of left things hanging. Taking FO photos of oneself is hard, especially with an automatic camera. I hope to get a digital SLR one day but until then, I should probably read my camera's manual and learn about some of the features that may help me out. In the meantime, it's hard to trick the camera into getting the right exposure and focus because I use the self-timer (of course) and those settings are calibrated when the button is pressed, not when the picture is taken. For pictures in our backyard, the camera focuses on the fence behind me, which is pretty close to where I stand, but then the exposure is off. If I stand in front of the camera to set the self-timer, the exposure is closer, but the focus is off.

Anyway, without further ado, the skirt!

Artichoke Ripples Skirt

Date:
February 24th - March 15th, 2008

Yarn:
Almost 6 skeins of Knit One Crochet Too 2nd Time Cotton in artichoke 534

Needles:
US#3 circs - 40" regular and 47" lace Addi Turbos

Pattern:
Indigo Ripples Skirt by Kat Coyle from Interweave Knits Spring 2007 (errata here)

Size:
32" waist

The story:

The skirt did not originally jump out at me when I flipped through the magazine in the store, but I fell in love with it when I saw this photo (not sure how I came across the photo but this was pre-Ravelry!) I ordered the yarn a long time ago and made the newbie mistake of buying the same number of skeins as specified in the pattern, without comparing the yardage per skein! So yes, I used almost 6 skeins and now have just over 5 skeins left...

I'm not sure why it took me so long to actually start this project, but once I did, I went like gangbusters! I did swatch diligently (including machine washing my swatches) and ended up with a much smaller needle size than recommended in order to get gauge. This gave me a thicker, heavier fabric, but actually I like it like that.

I had problems with laddering but otherwise things went pretty smoothly. As many have, I lengthened the stockinette portion of the skirt (to 12-1/2"). I even swatched for the lace section and the ruffle. As others have noted, the ruffle took FOR-EVER but it was well worth it. I love ruffles! And I managed to complete the skirt just in time for my birthday/St. Patrick's Day celebration!

I wrote quite a bit about this skirt as I went so I won't say much more except that I love this skirt! Next time I would knit it a tiny bit smaller in circumference at my thighs but I am definitely planning on knitting more skirts. I highly recommend this pattern.

In progress shots:

Finished shots:

Here is the outfit I wore for my birthday, except for the sandals, which are new. Note the matching bag that my sister-in-law gave me totally coincidentally that day! The long cardigan worked to hide the laddering problem that still exists at the back, which I show below for full disclosure! (I haven't done a full machine wash yet - hopefully a few washes will even things out.) I played around with with the settings on the photos so they are a little grainy, but this was the look I liked best.

And here I am in my Free People Hoodie (out of focus but otherwise the exposure was totally off):

Flickr set is here.
Ravelry link is here.

Serendipity

I wore my still slightly damp skirt (we ran out of time and had to leave) with a pink tank top and a long cream colored cardigan (which nicely hid the ladder in the back). I wore knee high black boots but it was so nice out I could almost have worn sandals were I not also in desperate need of a pedicure. It was very spring-like.

Then, my sister-in-law gave me a new purse for my birthday that perfectly complemented my outfit in similarly spring-like greens and pinks and browns and blues. Awesome! I'll take photos shortly.

I do have to admit though that while I love working with cotton, I'm looking forward to getting back to the spring-y-ness (different kind of spring) of wool. Something stretchy with a bit more give will be a nice change at my own little sweatshop over here!

Want to know something funny though? When I ordered the yarn for this skirt I was such a newbie that I did not compare the yardage of the yarn specified with the yardage of the yarn I ordered. I simply ordered the same number of skeins!!! Luckily, the yarn I ordered came with a lot more yards per skein than the yarn used in the pattern so I didn't run out, but the skirt only used just over half the yarn I bought. So now I'm trying to figure out what kind of matching top I might want to knit... or is this skirt always going to look better with a contrasting top. Something to think about...

Post-knitting giddiness!

Knitting this skirt was AMAZING!!!! I hadn't planned on finishing it this quickly, but even the stockinette portion was strangely addictive, and once I got to the lace portion, I realized that finishing it by this weekend was possible and it would be the perfect skirt for a big family get together today for my birthday and St. Patrick's Day. (St. Patrick's Day, green, get it?!!)

Of course, the fact that it took me TWO HOURS to knit the ruffle onto my SWATCH should have been a clue that the ruffle was going to take a while. Not to mention that this skirt has been knit a lot (124 projects on ravelry right now) and tons of people mention the yarn-eating time-consuming ruffle. But, as everyone also says, it is SO WORTH IT!!!!

Finishing this skirt in time for this afternoon (we leave in just over an hour) was a bit of a push, because I also wanted time to wash and block the skirt, on account of the ladder which, by the way, was made unquestionably worse by my attempted fix, who are we kidding?! It's in the dryer as I speak, laying flat on a nifty insert that came with the washer dryer. At times last night I wasn't sure I was going to make it because it was just taking forever and I had originally wanted to wash it last night and let it dry overnight. But I woke up this morning, did the last knit and purl rounds and then began the bind off, all whilst watching Becoming Jane rented hastily off iTunes so I could focus on knitting instead of trying to knit and browse online at the same time.

Binding off was great, as the ruffle finally took its ruffly form. And now I'm in that giddy post-knitting state that comes when you complete a project, any project really, not just knitting, and it looks as amazing as you hoped it would and more amazing than you had imagined. Love love love the ruffle! It's girly and frilly without being... flowery. This skirt is still modern and clean, yet flirty and fun. I can see why so many people rave about this skirt - if you haven't already done so, you should knit it too!

IT'S FINISHED!!!!

Two hour forty minute bind-off but it's finished and I love it!!!

Ripples!

Learn as you go

Final reminder: the blogiversary contest ends tonight at 9pm EST. Of course, when I set the time I forgot about daylight savings so make that 10pm EDT!

Note to self: place stitch markers for lace repeat the round before you start the lace!

In other words, I have started the lace section of the artichoke ripples skirt and I have screwed it up twice through miscounting! The pattern repeats every 14 stitches so I have been placing a marker every 14 stitches... except where I placed it after 11 stitches. That was before I figured out I should actually count the stitches out rather than only following the pattern. Luckily, I stopped half way round and went back to check and fixed it. Except that I didn't fix it correctly and didn't discover that until I was done and had one stitch too many remaining. At that point, I decided it was time to go to bed!

It would be much easier to count while I wasn't also trying to follow the lace pattern ie during the last knit row before starting the lace. Therefore I am going to rip back and do just that!

Skirt in progress

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An iPhone photo... didn't feel like stopping and going to the trouble of taking a better photo. I'm trying to figure out when I want to start the lace. I'm thinking in another inch or two...

Getting ready for lace

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Created my first lace chart out of written instructions - it made it so much clearer to me. I still messed up my swatch a bit but hopefully it served its purpose as practice!

Hey wait a second, something is actually wrong, now that I go back and look at other people's lace section, and looking back at my chart... of course, the errata! Now suddenly the pattern makes even more sense. That must have really messed some people up in the beginning...

It's settled

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Before:

Eeek!

After:

Yes my friends, it is settled - that was a complete waste of time!!!

Ok, it wasn't a complete waste of time as at least it is settled and I can now move on instead of constantly wondering and second guessing myself as to whether I should have ripped out the ladder. Thanks especially to Knitsane for the moral support via flickr, and to all the people on ravelry who gave me advice (even if I ripped out anyway!)

In the end, when the other ladder I steam blocked completely dried, it did look better, enough so that, along with everyone's advice, I think it will come out in a few washes. Also, the ladder I ripped out is now a loose ladder rather than a tight ladder (loose from the last stitch of the runner, if that makes any sense) which I'm thinking can only help once it's washed also.

I'm going to get back to knitting rather than fussing now!

Artichoke

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I hereby declare that my green ripples skirt shall henceforth be known as the artichoke ripples skirt, after the colorway of the yarn I am using. A little more evocative, don't you think?!

Anyway, it's been going pretty well. I'm heavy into stockinette land, having completed the waist and hip shaping, and duh, I am realizing that yes, Addi Turbos really do rule the land!

Let me back track a little. The pattern calls for US #6 needles, but I had to swatch and swatch and swatch with ever decreasing needle sizes in order to get close to gauge, and I finally ended up with US #3, which I have in regular Addi 40" circular and lace Addi 47" circulars (Knitpicks Options doesn't go below US #4). In order to better magic loop I went with the lace Addis and it was fine but... not what the lace Addis were really intended for I think, especially with cotton.

I didn't really realize how much the "stickiness" was slowing me down though until I switched to my regular 40" Addis. I made the switch because I was starting to get rather concerned about the laddering I was getting from magic looping with needles that weren't really long enough for the circumference I was at, especially as of course I was now at the point where it was larger than where I started at the waist. I was going to knit back and forth between the 47" and 40" but the 40"s are actually big enough to just knit in the round, no magic looping and no more ladders. And now I am just zipping along! I'm hoping the ladders will even out with some pulling and tugging and machine washing (I test washed my swatches and barely got any shrinkage) but even if not, I generally wear tops that would cover that part of the skirt anyway. But I'm really hoping they wash out.

Ok the more I look at it, the more it is bothering me and worrying me. I did some research on ravelry which confirmed that I could let down a runner five or six stitches wide and rework the stitches back up to even them out. I also posted on ravelry to see what suggestions people had - everyone pretty much said it will come out in blocking and pointed out that I could try that now and see. So I've pretty heavily steam blocked and it looks a bit better but it's still there!!!! How aggravating. I try not to be too much of a perfectionist in my knitting, and probably it will come out after a few washes (my machine-washed swatches look nice and even) but I don't really want to worry about it so I may do the runner thing. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Anyway, back to the regular Addis, the yarn is a lot less splitty on them than on lace Addis too! I know this is also pretty obvious, and even on the lace Addis, mostly it's splitty because I read or watch tv while knitting so I'm not always looking at what I'm doing. It's not a big deal, I can tell by feel when I've split the yarn, or else I can fix it on the next round.

The only trouble with the 40"ers is that I can no longer try the skirt on so easily but, aside from the ladders, I'm pretty happy with how it's been looking. I haven't decided when to start the lace section yet but like many others will probably start it lower than in the pattern so I end up with a longer skirt.

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There are a few things on my knitting mind lately. Three friends and I are collaborating on a baby blanket for another friend who is expecting in April. I know, we don't have much time but we went to Purl together last week and in about an hour were able to pick out the yarn and figure out a plan - we were pretty impressed with ourselves! We are not doing anything too elaborate but we've already knit a few squares and it's going to be simple but very cute I think. Anyway, in the process of coming up with this, one of my friends brought a copy of 100 Afghan Squares to Knit by Debbie Abrahams and wow! I was mesmerized by some of the beautiful beautiful blankets and afghans shown in this book and I can't stop thinking about them! My friend offered to lend me the book and at first I thought, you know, I'm really not going to knit a blanket right now, but on further reflection I think I may have to buy the book myself! (We used the book as inspiration but we're doing something less structured - basically we're each picking three stitch patterns and knitting three squares in that pattern in three different colors.)

I also COMPLETELY fell in love with splityarn's Clapotis scarf knit in the most beautiful colorway of Noro Silk Garden. The funny thing was, as I started to shop for the same colorway in that "I must have it now" way that occasionally overtakes one, it started to look familiar and yes, sure enough, I have 2 skeins in my stash. Is it wrong to totally copy someone's project ie steal their yarn choice?!!!

Speaking of totally copying someone's project, reviewing all my FOs from last year reminded me of this version of the lala scarf in Rainy Day Goods that I fell in love with almost a year ago and have become re-obsessed with. I really liked the Lornas Laces I used for the wristwarmers and have half a skein left... I'm tempted to just cast-on, even though I will have to buy more yarn to complete it! It would be a nice counterpoint to the stockinette of the skirt.

Back to blankets, there's a great thread going over at ravelry on called the most beautiful FO you've seen on ravelry so that's what I passed some happy time doing this morning as I stockinetted around my skirt. I saw many many beautiful projects but this one really captivated me - the tessellating fish baby blanket from Octopus Knits. I love the colors, I love the design, it's so cute yet elegant and simple.

So much to knit and so little time!