The Cardigan Continues

If you saw my last post, you’ll know I’m in the middle of a binge of sweater knitting. A cardigan is on its way into my life, piece by piece.

Yep, piece by piece – I’m not knitting it in one piece. I hate sewing things up, but I’m sure it will be worth it because this cardigan is going to be glued to me for the whole of autumn and probably a large portion of the winter.

So far I’ve made only two mistakes, though they were big ones.

1. I made the back about two inches too small. I don’t know how I managed that. I’m going back in a few days to rip out the top bit and add a couple of inches. Not ideal, but I will pull through.
2. When decreasing the right front of the cardigan I started doing both the neck and the shoulder on the same side of the section, which apparently is not how human bodies work.

Both of these problems could have been solved by printing off the pattern and actually reading it as I go along instead of skimming it in the morning and making it up, because you know, that’s a sensible way to do it. (Though this time I’m not just making it up completely as I would on a less important project; I do write down some small notes. Just… not enough.)

After work today I decided to go to the library to print off the pattern but alas, they’d changed how the system worked and I messed it up and then there were no computers so I was outta luck, buddy. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow. Or maybe not.

Maybe I’ll just keep making it up and see what happens.

(By the way the pattern is Cushing Isle by Amy Herzog, though I’m using the Custom Fit generator for it. More on that stroke of genius when the sweater is done!)

A Long-Finished Project: The Jane Eyre Shawl

Sometimes a finished object (FO) becomes so useful the moment I cast it off that I forget about it. I forget that I made it. I forget that I spent hours and hours working each stitch, fixing the many mistakes, and cooing over the progress. I forget that at one point I had to pick out the yarn for the pattern that caught my eye and that once this thing I’d made was nothing more than a concept in someone else’s mind.

The moment I cast off my Jane Eyre shawl I started using it. I wrapped it around my shoulders and forgot.

This shawl is my favourite. It’s not particularly fancy but it is perfect for me. It’s big, it’s warm, it’s got just enough detail to keep it interesting. I wear it a lot.

I remember the day I found Literary Knits by Nikol Lohr in my local library. I flicked through and found a pattern based on Jane Eyre. Awesome, I thought; Jane Eyre is my favourite literary character and her strength has given me my own determination more than once in my life. Still, I won’t knit something just because it’s named after a bad-ass woman since there are a thousand patterns out there that I already want to knit, badly named or not.

Then I noticed that the shawl was made in the Faroese style and I was done. I was sold. I had yarn at home that could work and I cast on immediately.

The shawl happened quickly and without much fuss. I loved knitting it but due to that love it was over in no time at all. The only real post I made about it was lamenting my tendency to play Yarn Chicken, which didn’t really cover how much I loved knitting that shawl, though I did recommend the pattern again in a later post about Jane Eyre-inspired knits.

I knitted this shawl… wow. A year ago. See? Time flies when you’re wearing something all the time. Last month I spent a few days camping near Charleston Lake and used the shawl the moment the chill picked up, and finally remembered that I should get some in-use pictures of the project.

This is what it looks like most of the time. Cosy and amazing.

It’s big, no? So very perfect.

The reason I love it so much is because of the shape. If you haven’t knit a Faroese shawl before you should consider it; the result of a small bunch of very windy islands, the knitters of the Faroe Islands put shoulder shaping into their shawls. Genius. Practical and stylish! It stays on easily and hugs you like an old friend.

Revisiting the shawl’s creation has been a pleasure. It’s such a part of my daily life that I forgot that I nearly ran out of yarn for it and had to buy more, and that I’d knit it in no time at all in my excitement. I’ll love it even more now.

(Though with the current 30 degree weather and 70% humidity, I might not be wearing it for a while.)

I didn’t set it on fire

…And that’s about as much as I can say about my recent knitting incident. I’m proud that the matches remain in the junk drawer, because it was a close thing.

I’m knitting a thing for someone (shhh) and it’s a lot of fun. It’s pretty, it’s beaded, it’s geeky. It’s something that one day I’ll be very proud I knitted, and I’m sure a lot of you are going to appreciate it when I can share pictures. For now let’s just call it THE THING OF DOOM, because it suits the damn situation.

So. THE THING OF DOOM has been on the needles for about two or three weeks and I’ve been knitting it a lot, mostly at home because I’m in a new position at work and can’t concentrate on fancy lace and such things. If THE THING OF DOOM has those attributes, of course. Which it might not. (It does.)

I’m about halfway through the last half of THE THING OF DOOM when I look at it, really look at it, and realise it’s wrong. Not just ‘I have a yarn over in the wrong place’ wrong, but ‘did you even read the pattern you big old fluff-for-brains’ wrong. Irredeemably wrong. Now, I checked a few times and inspected project photos over and over because I’ve been known to frog things only to realise it was fine the first time, but no. THE THING OF DOOM had to be ripped back about halfway.

Maybe I should be pleased I didn’t have to rip back to the beginning but that is not much of a consolation right now, shut up.

It’s really hard not to think about how many stitches I had to rip out last night. With over three hundred per row and about three inches of knitting, that’s… that’s a lot. That’s thousands. That’s… ugh.

Thankfully it was not the fancy lace part so it was easy to frog. I sat at knitting night and glowered at the world as I ripped it back, then picked up the stitches without incident and began knitting again, pleased that I only put it on down-time for four days or so.

Then I realised I hadn’t restrung the beads.

THE THING OF DOOM is back in its bag and though I need to finish it soon, right now I’m just trying to keep the matches out of sight.

Why do I think knitting is fun again?

New Facebook Page!

A few months ago I set up a Facebook page for the blog and then… didn’t publish it. Logic! I had it all ready to go and linked up to the posts here, and then I decided that I wasn’t ready for it. This weekend, I decided it was time to publish it and let people know about it.

You can find it at facebook.com/knitternerd, and I’d love it if you liked the page. Send me a message! Post a picture of your WIP! I don’t want it to be a boring feed of posts, but a chance to connect with other knitters who may or may not also be nerds.

Of course, it’s also a good way to keep track of any new posts, so it’s the best of both worlds.

In the next few days I’ll be going over some of my earliest posts and how I learned from them, and it’s been a lot of fun to do. It’s been nearly six years since I started knitting and nearly as long since I started this blog! What began as a place to ramble to avoid boring everyone in real life to death has become a major part of my life. I’m grateful.

Again, go like the FB page and say hi!

If you missed it before, I also have a twitter (@PoloLonergan), an instagram (@knitternerd), and a pinterest (@knitternerd). I’m all over the shop, me.

Five Follow-up Thoughts on Continental

1. It really is faster after a while.
2. Having such a radically different gauge is going to throw off my default sock pattern (i.e. making it up as I go).
3. People seem REAL interested in Portuguese knitting in the comments of my last post on this matter. Must investigate.
4. Knitting 150g of light fingering in plain stockinette is even less fun that I expected, but at least I’m getting the hang of Continental.
5. I hope I don’t end up twisting my purls for another two years.

Switching to Continental

Knitting barged into my life nearly six years ago now. Though a large portion of that first year or two was taken up crocheting, I still knitted occasionally and since then I’ve knitted almost every day. When I learned, I learned English – not surprising as I lived in England at the time. Now, after six years, I’m thinking of switching to Continental.

What’s the difference? For my readers who don’t know, a quick explanation.

English knitting is also called throwing. You tension the yarn in your right hand and ‘throw’ the yarn around the needle for each stitch.

Continental knitting is also called picking. You tension the yarn in your left hand and ‘pick’ the yarn with the needle through each stitch.

There are dozens of videos online about how to do both, so it’s easy to learn if you feel like switching. I wish I had learned Continental to begin with; it’s quicker and kinder on your hands, or at least it is for me. My right hand once had a severe RSI as a teenager (believe it or not, from making pixel dolls) so knitting English is sometimes a strain.

When I knitted the obscene mitts, I knitted two-handed. One hand English, one hand Continental. That’s how I learned Continental, though not on that project. However I can’t seem to get into the habit of knitting one-handed when doing Continental.

After finishing those mitts and the baby sweater (pictures coming soon!) I started getting hand pain again. Fed up, I decided to try a project completely Continental. I picked up the yarn I bought a few days before and cast on a stockinette cowl for a friend. Easy, rhythmic, and perfect to practice. It’s so much faster and because the movements are so small and confined it’s not nearly as hard on my tendons.

English knitters, I highly recommend trying it.

What method do you use when you knit? English, Continental, other? Is that how you learnt or did you make a conscious choice to switch?

Vintage baby cardigan: the construction

This weekend my partner and I spent the day in Toronto. We had a great time wandering around some places we’ve been meaning to go since we lived here and went for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Unexpectedly, we also went clothes shopping.

Now, my partner and I… we’re not clothes shopping people. It’s tedious. Most of my clothes are second hand or jeans from American Eagle; I’m easy. Yet we found ourselves in the Eaton Centre on the hunt for garments and both came away with a new shirt. I also got myself a Roots hoody at last.

I am aware that to most that’s a pathetic excuse for clothes shopping, but we did look in quite a few stores. We just ended up buying nerdy shirts. She got a Marvel tank top and I got a Doctor Who t-shirt. It was hard to decide which one; I was tempted to get a Deadpool shirt or the Doctor Who one that had the bad knock-knock joke on it, but this one was way prettier.

When I got home my vintage baby cardigan finally found its way onto the blocking mat. The sight of it amused me. Looking at it pinned down made it seem ridiculous; it’s such an odd shape. Yet it curled like no one’s business so I needed to block it quite aggressively.

The yarn is Botany Lace and it knits up beautifully. It’s so much fun to play with and it comes out soft and light, almost like cotton.

I changed the collar as you will see in the finished picture once I sew it together (and this time it isn’t going to take me a year to do that, I swear).

Now if I could only find blocking mats that don’t clash with everything I knit…

Cables galore (and a disaster or two)

There is a forum on Ravelry where you can test-knit patterns for people (on a volunteer basis). It’s not for the highly technical side of editing but rather to check the pattern works and there are no glaring mistakes, and I’ve read the threads with interest for a long time.

About a month ago I loved one of the patterns I saw so I agreed to test knit it. There will be photos when it is blocked and the pattern is up on Ravelry, but for now let me explain JUST HOW MANY CABLES THERE WERE.

MANY. There were MANY cables. Upper case essential.

Aside from never wanting to do cables or bobbles ever again, I have enjoyed knitting it. I have not so much enjoyed the amount of times I’ve messed up cables and had to ladder my stitches down to the relevant row and redo the cables, though I have to admit it makes me feel like a bad-ass.

At one point I realised I had messed up about ten stitches two rows back and had to carefully drop the stitches in two catches, crossing the cables correctly and hooking the stitches back up to the current row. It took about half an hour of scowling at the yarn but somehow I managed it. If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen my efforts in real time.

And when it’s fixed…

Most knitting doesn’t bother my hands but I have to say cables make my fingers very sore afterwards. I think it’s time for a crochet project to give them time to recover.

Or I could just put down the yarn for a few days but let’s face it, that’s never going to happen.

Knitter Nerd Podcast Episode 3: Timeless Knits

In the third episode of The Knitter Nerd Podcast we meet another Kickstarter superstar, Michele, who bought the podcast option for her friend Diane who is a designer of gorgeous things. I have one of her patterns ready for the perfect yarn and you should check out her designs here, and see a preview of some right now to tempt you over.

From Diane Martini’s Designer Page. © rantini 2015

Diane Martini has some gorgeous designs and she has generously given you KN readers a 25% discount for the month of December! Go to her Designer Page and use the code polo2015. This is valid right up until the end of December 2015, meaning that it’s the perfect time to get a pattern to make your loved one something pretty. Even better, make it for yourself! You can bet the Marigny Sweater is going to be for myself.

Additionally, comment below with your favourite of Diane’s patterns and I will pick one of you at random on December 16th and purchase the pattern for you as a prize. You have to have a Ravelry account for me to be able to gift something to you, but c’mon, you’re knitters. You already do!

Click here (you can download it directly as a .wav or an .mp3 to take away with you) or listen below.

Diane is a knitwear designer. Here are her designs.

Michele is the generous person who helped fund my Kickstarter and did so on behalf of Diane because she’s a lovely friend! She sews and knits.

You will hear random animal noises at points in the podcast because cats really enjoy interrupting loudly at all opportunities.

Also, we laugh a lot. Michele and Diane are funny and friendly people and we spoke for a good hour longer than this outside of the recording. That’s what I love about knitting: there’s so much community around it.

Some notes:
– Read more about Knit in Public Day here.
– How to crochet plastic bags into mats for homeless folk.
– How to crochet your seams together.
– This is qiviut. It’s lovely.
– Diane’s failed design is made of tencel which is great but does not hold its shape.
– Brooks Farm Yarn. Here or here.

Take a look at two of the patterns we discussed: the Marigny Sweater and the Versicolor Cowl.

Pattern page. © photo by jamie smith photograpy

From Diane Martini’s Designer Page. © rantini 2015

There’s an odd pause and continuation at the end five minutes. Don’t shut it off until the end! We stopped talking and then realised we had more to say. It’s hilarious, because we are yarn addicts.

Again, stop by Diane’s store and don’t forget to use the discount code – polo2015 – as well as commenting here with your favourite pattern for the chance to win it!

Thank you again Michele and Diane for your support and a whole lot of fun.

The New Beginning for the Knitter Nerd

I’ve known it all along: knitters are awesome people.

Not only that, but people are awesome people; not everyone who pledge toward my Kickstarter campaign is a knitter. Some are people I know, some are strangers, all of you have made my year.

This blog is so important to me. Not only because it allows me to vent all the knitting thoughts I have in my head on a day to day basis, but because I can reach out and connect with knitters. One of my main goals with improving The Knitter Nerd is finding a way to connect more with you awesome folks to prove none of us are shouting into the void. We’re all a bunch of knitters and nerds and we’re not alone.

That’s the biggest, most important lesson the internet has taught me. As a scared and lonely teenager I retreated into an online world and I have never looked back. Not once. I found my girlfriend here, I found friends here, and I found that no matter how weird people said I was back then I was among likeminded people as soon as I heard that dial-up tone.

Knitting has been a similar experience for me. Since I joined Sophie’s Stitch ‘n’ Bitch in 2010 during a period of very boring unemployment I realized that knitters are lovely. They are accepting, kind people of all types and they will whole-heartedly pull you into their midst, thrusting skeins of pretty things at you until you’re past saving.

If I sound sappy, forgive me. I am overwhelmed by the kindness I have seen in the past two months. You’ll see the rewards start to roll out this month so keep an eye out for that. There will be more changes to the site over the next three months and I’m very excited to show you guys what’s happening.

(Note: if you come by here and see the site is a bit wonky, don’t mind it. It’s having a little spruce up this month and I do these things by trial and error.)

Thank you everyone who helped me out with this big step up, and thanks for the support of everyone else who reads and comments on this blog. You are all treasures.