Ravelry

on May 2, 2007

I’ve been helping to test a new and wonderful knitting and crochet community for the last couple of months. It’s almost ready for its full public unveiling and Frecklegirl and Casey are taking names and issuing invites to slowly open it up. I’ve been having a blast with it, adding all of my projects and linking them to yarns and patterns, checking out who else knit the same things, and exploring other knitters’ projects. It’s a great way to organize your projects, stash, and even needles, too. Want to join? Go check out out!

ETA: Let me stress that Ravelry is free and will remain free after the testing period is over!

I totally ripped off Kelly Sue and took a screencap of my page over there so you can see how organize-y it is.

*love*

Fiber Club:

I’ll start sending off the packages to non-US members in the next couple of days, so that hopefully everyone will get their packages at around the same time. I know that’s a pipe dream, but I’ll try my best. Check in at the Fiber Club Blog and Flickr Group (and join them!) after you get your fiber. Be sure not to look there until you get your fiber, unless you want to spoil the surprise. I’ll post my spun yarn and a pic of the fiber at the blog after I’ve shipped, but I’ll do it in a popup window so you don’t have to see if you don’t want to. I think you’re going to be pleased!

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Finished Object- Handspun Baby Surprise Jacket

on April 29, 2007



The Facts:
Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket from The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: My own worsted weight (12 wpi) handspun Merino wool, about 5.5 oz., 350 yards
Gauge: 5 sts. per inch
Size: 17.5″ around, 17.5″ cuff to cuff, so, taking into consideration the thickness of the fabric, to fit about a 6 month old baby according to standard sizing
Needles: size 5 Addi Turbo, 40″ long
Buttons: cuties made from coconut (many thanks to the woman at Windsor Button who helped me yesterday)
Started: April 19, 2007
Finished: April 28, 2007, including most of the spinning (The dark brown was a leftover.)

See all BSJ posts for more info.
See my Flickr set for far too many photos of this, including yarn and fiber.

The Yarn:
I spun up three different colorways of Merino wool for this jacket, approx. 140 yards of green, 80 of blue, and 100 of the brown, and used all but a few yards of each. They’re all 2 ply worsted spun from commercial top that I hand-dyed.

The Knitting:
I did what I was told. No mods, except the increases. I used my preferred method of picking up the strand between stitches and knitting into the back. I liked the way the decreases looked from the wrong side, so when I sewed the jacket up, I did so with the wrong side (well, there is no wrong side, but the side I didn’t increase and decrease on) facing out.


From this view, you can see the cast on edge across the bottom.


Here it is flipped over, with the cast off edge at the bottom.


Starting to inch things into position.


Folded and ready to seam.

I was taken by surprise by how thick the fabric is. It’s also super cushy, as the yarn is already bouncy and lush and adding garter stitch to that makes it feel beyond wonderful.

I seamed this with backstitch from the inside, after a couple of failed attempts to crochet and knit it together. I just didn’t like the results from those methods. The result from the back stitch is clean and makes a nice strong seam. (The seam can be seen in my Flickr set.)

When I picked up along those 10 lengthening ridges, from the right side I picked up the front half of the edge stitch, twisting it as I knit it. When I picked up from the wrong side on the next row, I picked up the back strand of the edge stitch and twisted it. The resulting stitches look the same in the right side of the work.

I didn’t do any edgings. With this particular yarn, which has a rustic, organic feel, I thought plain was best. I love the i-cord edgings I see on some. Next time.

Have I missed anything? Ask away if you have a question. I’ve been getting lots of emails about this, so instead of answering privately, I’ll just add to this post.

Thank you for all your kind words about this project!

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