Fiddle Knits Designs | Beautifully detailed patterns for the hand knitter and crocheter
Created by Erica Jackofsky
Scotch Mary Cardi
Sweater Project:
Week One
Sweater Project:
Week Two
Sweater Project:
Week Three
Sweater Project:
Week Four
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Week Four ~ February 22–28, 2010
The Sweater Project: Day Twenty Two
February 22, 2010 ~ Short and Sweet
Today I'm going to keep my post short, sweet, and to the point...
I tried on Scotch Mary and took a good look in the mirror... I like the sweater! Very cool. And the even cooler part? I realized that I have a mere two inches left to knit on the body. Knowing this, I'm figuring (and hoping) that I can have Mary wrapped up by Wednesday. Unfortunately there's no sun in the forecast, so I'll be waiting a bit to get the patter photos taken. I get so antsy pants waiting for the photos because I always want to show everyone *now*. Patience I have not.
With this knowledge that I am so very close to the end of this sweater project (the experience of which I have completely loved) I decided to take it easy today and give my hands a little break. For now I am off to run some errands with Chris and then we're going on a dinner date. He treats me so good. :-)
The Sweater Project: Day Twenty Three
February 23, 2010 ~ Time flies when you're having fun.
Wow, is it really week 4 of the sweater project already? Where did the time go? My Mom was right, the older you get the faster time goes by. Hmmm...
I set out today to work up a schematic for Scotch Mary, and then I got myself really confused. I know there should be a schematic. They're very useful and like having them around on the rare occasion that I find myself following a pattern. My problem was this — The length of this sweater is very variable 1) because it is super easy to adjust the length according to your personal preference, but mostly 2) the entire bottom half is worked in a lace rib stitch. This means that the potential to block it out causes a very large variable. I made a bunch of notes about length, adjusting length, and blocking in the main notes on the front page of the pattern. So my dilemma is this — do I draw the schematic to represent the unblocked length of the sweater? I feel like trying to draw a schematic of the blocked dimensions may end up being really inaccurate. Anyone have opinions on this?
Other than the schematic problem Scotch Mary herself was very well behaved. I have exactly 4 rows of garter stitch left on the body. Tomorrow I should be blocking, although I may hold it off another day or two to see if maybe it might not be as cold and damp. Now to work loads of i-cord. I can't say I'm much looking forward to the yards of i-cord this project needs. I always seem to do these things to myself. I can't stand working i-cord. I find it completely boring, yet I use it to accent my designs all the time. One might even be under the impression that I loved it! In a way I guess this assumption would be right. I love its usefulness, though not the knitting process of it.
Since Scotch Mary is so close to being done I saw no good reason not to cast on another sweater. All I have done is knit one row to satisfy the urge to start a new design. At least that's all the physical knitting I did on it. Patternwise I wrote up a pretty solid outline for it already. This new design already has a name: Strawberry Wine. Berry will be a pullover (my first one yet) worked from the bottom up (another first). The sleeve shaping will not be raglan (I don't think), but more of a dropped sleeve look. Think comfortable, simple, with just enough detail to keep ya happy. I was toying with a hood, but this yarn is not quite the hood type, so I think I'll go with a big floppy collar instead. See this? One sweater not even completely done and already I'm in mad crazy love with another one. Boy am I fickle!
The end of the February Sweater Project does not signal the end of my more frequent blogging. I am enjoying it far to much to disappear. I am all set for Knitting on the Road in March as I travel with my family band, The Homegrown String Band. Coming on the road with me will be an assortment of hats and sweaters and I plan on blogging it all: the designing, the gigging, everything. It should be a good time. ;-)
February 23, 2010 ~ Time flies when you're having fun.
Wow, is it really week 4 of the sweater project already? Where did the time go? My Mom was right, the older you get the faster time goes by. Hmmm...
I set out today to work up a schematic for Scotch Mary, and then I got myself really confused. I know there should be a schematic. They're very useful and like having them around on the rare occasion that I find myself following a pattern. My problem was this — The length of this sweater is very variable 1) because it is super easy to adjust the length according to your personal preference, but mostly 2) the entire bottom half is worked in a lace rib stitch. This means that the potential to block it out causes a very large variable. I made a bunch of notes about length, adjusting length, and blocking in the main notes on the front page of the pattern. So my dilemma is this — do I draw the schematic to represent the unblocked length of the sweater? I feel like trying to draw a schematic of the blocked dimensions may end up being really inaccurate. Anyone have opinions on this?
Other than the schematic problem Scotch Mary herself was very well behaved. I have exactly 4 rows of garter stitch left on the body. Tomorrow I should be blocking, although I may hold it off another day or two to see if maybe it might not be as cold and damp. Now to work loads of i-cord. I can't say I'm much looking forward to the yards of i-cord this project needs. I always seem to do these things to myself. I can't stand working i-cord. I find it completely boring, yet I use it to accent my designs all the time. One might even be under the impression that I loved it! In a way I guess this assumption would be right. I love its usefulness, though not the knitting process of it.
Since Scotch Mary is so close to being done I saw no good reason not to cast on another sweater. All I have done is knit one row to satisfy the urge to start a new design. At least that's all the physical knitting I did on it. Patternwise I wrote up a pretty solid outline for it already. This new design already has a name: Strawberry Wine. Berry will be a pullover (my first one yet) worked from the bottom up (another first). The sleeve shaping will not be raglan (I don't think), but more of a dropped sleeve look. Think comfortable, simple, with just enough detail to keep ya happy. I was toying with a hood, but this yarn is not quite the hood type, so I think I'll go with a big floppy collar instead. See this? One sweater not even completely done and already I'm in mad crazy love with another one. Boy am I fickle!
The end of the February Sweater Project does not signal the end of my more frequent blogging. I am enjoying it far to much to disappear. I am all set for Knitting on the Road in March as I travel with my family band, The Homegrown String Band. Coming on the road with me will be an assortment of hats and sweaters and I plan on blogging it all: the designing, the gigging, everything. It should be a good time. ;-)
The Sweater Project: Day Twenty Four
February 24, 2010 ~ The end is in sight...
Today I have some exciting news: Scotch Mary has been bound off! The body is done, the sleeves are edges, the ends are woven in. Now all that is left is blocking and knitting the i-cords. As far as technical stuff on the pattern all I need to do is draw those blasted schematics. That's really not so bad. I think I was overthinking it yesterday. I will plug the numbers into the schematic drawing after I have Scotch Mary all blocked out. I am so excited to have actually met my goal of finishing this project in one month! I think I will celebrate tomorrow by getting some good dark chocolate. Mmmm....
I'm hoping I can get some photos soon. However, the weather around these parts is not looking like it will be very cooperative. The past couple days it's been pouring and there's heavy rain and snow in the forecast for the next 5 days. Last I checked the chance of precipitation was 100%. Very accurate thus far. If it looks like the month will end without the sun arriving then I will make a valiant attempt to get some photos to at least prove that Scotch Mary is done even if I have to wait for the better pattern photos.
I didn't really have a whole lot of knitting time today other than what it took to finish the body and sleeves on the sweater. Wednesday's are full of music and dance for me. (I teach dance to 4-6 year olds. I don't know if I've ever mentioned that before.) Now I'm settling in for the night. I've got my jammies on and will be pouring a hot cup of tea momentarily. And then... I start putting the finishing touches on something that I can't share with you just yet. You'll have to wait another... oh, month and a half to two months until it's published. Hehehe ;-) How's that for being all mysterious? I find it very hard not being able to share *everything* that I'm designing or doing relating to designing. The next Fall is going to be very good though. As long as all goes well there will be massive amounts of patterns coming out from Fiddle Knits. That is assuming I don't get to distracted along the way...
February 24, 2010 ~ The end is in sight...
Today I have some exciting news: Scotch Mary has been bound off! The body is done, the sleeves are edges, the ends are woven in. Now all that is left is blocking and knitting the i-cords. As far as technical stuff on the pattern all I need to do is draw those blasted schematics. That's really not so bad. I think I was overthinking it yesterday. I will plug the numbers into the schematic drawing after I have Scotch Mary all blocked out. I am so excited to have actually met my goal of finishing this project in one month! I think I will celebrate tomorrow by getting some good dark chocolate. Mmmm....
I'm hoping I can get some photos soon. However, the weather around these parts is not looking like it will be very cooperative. The past couple days it's been pouring and there's heavy rain and snow in the forecast for the next 5 days. Last I checked the chance of precipitation was 100%. Very accurate thus far. If it looks like the month will end without the sun arriving then I will make a valiant attempt to get some photos to at least prove that Scotch Mary is done even if I have to wait for the better pattern photos.
I didn't really have a whole lot of knitting time today other than what it took to finish the body and sleeves on the sweater. Wednesday's are full of music and dance for me. (I teach dance to 4-6 year olds. I don't know if I've ever mentioned that before.) Now I'm settling in for the night. I've got my jammies on and will be pouring a hot cup of tea momentarily. And then... I start putting the finishing touches on something that I can't share with you just yet. You'll have to wait another... oh, month and a half to two months until it's published. Hehehe ;-) How's that for being all mysterious? I find it very hard not being able to share *everything* that I'm designing or doing relating to designing. The next Fall is going to be very good though. As long as all goes well there will be massive amounts of patterns coming out from Fiddle Knits. That is assuming I don't get to distracted along the way...
The Sweater Project: Day Twenty Six
February 26, 2010 ~ Almost There...
I know, don't say it. I was a very bad blogger and didn't write a post yesterday. Truthfully my eyes were bothering me (I'm going next week for new glasses) and my knitting was completely driving me nuts, so the idea of writing about it didn't really excite me. Have no fear, though, it wasn't Scotch Mary that was driving me crazy. She is still very well behaved and awaiting the second of the i-cord ties to be finished... and then to be blocked, which I'll make a valiant attempt to take care of tomorrow.
So if Scotch Mary wasn't the cause of my frustrations, then what was? Remember I mentioned the Strawberry Wine sweater a few days back? Well, I ripped it.... many times. I lost track around 4. So instead of knitting in anger I put the yarn aside and cast on for a different sweater design, which I have dubbed Maggie Grey. As of today I have ripped Maggie Grey approximately 4 times as well. At this point I have almost knit back all the yarn I ripped earlier this morning, but man... I was not a happy camper with my designing yesterday or for most of today. Right now I think I have a handle on the design. I think... I don't want to jinx myself. {Insert large sigh here} Oh what a day.
I wish all my designs were as well behaved as Scotch Mary... Life would be so sweet. ;-)
February 26, 2010 ~ Almost There...
I know, don't say it. I was a very bad blogger and didn't write a post yesterday. Truthfully my eyes were bothering me (I'm going next week for new glasses) and my knitting was completely driving me nuts, so the idea of writing about it didn't really excite me. Have no fear, though, it wasn't Scotch Mary that was driving me crazy. She is still very well behaved and awaiting the second of the i-cord ties to be finished... and then to be blocked, which I'll make a valiant attempt to take care of tomorrow.
So if Scotch Mary wasn't the cause of my frustrations, then what was? Remember I mentioned the Strawberry Wine sweater a few days back? Well, I ripped it.... many times. I lost track around 4. So instead of knitting in anger I put the yarn aside and cast on for a different sweater design, which I have dubbed Maggie Grey. As of today I have ripped Maggie Grey approximately 4 times as well. At this point I have almost knit back all the yarn I ripped earlier this morning, but man... I was not a happy camper with my designing yesterday or for most of today. Right now I think I have a handle on the design. I think... I don't want to jinx myself. {Insert large sigh here} Oh what a day.
I wish all my designs were as well behaved as Scotch Mary... Life would be so sweet. ;-)
The Sweater Project: Day Twenty Seven
February 27, 2010
The second to last day. Where did the time go?
I am going to have to admit, this close to the end I start to lose my focus. I have this bad habit that I'm sure I share with many other knitters. That is, once I get almost to the end of a project it starts to feel finished in my head and then the attraction to work on it wanes a bit because it's done, right? Well, not quite. I do still need that second i-cord to get finished. Other than that, yes, right, it is finished.
I desperately wanted to wear the Scotch Mary sweater today. It was sitting on the top of a box full of yarn right at the foot of my bed. I was trying to find clothing that I wanted to wear and I kept looking back over at the sweater. I'd picked out some dark jeans and the Ginger color of Scotch Mary matched so nicely with it. I would have worn it regardless of not yet having the pattern photos taken, because I don't think I would have ruined it with one wear, but... that second i-cord was missing and I didn't think I would finish 3 feet of i-cord in the 15 minutes I had no matter how fast I tried to hustle myself to work. Darn.
And speaking of pattern photos... I *really* don't want to take photos of this very cute little warm weather sweater with a bunch of snow in the background, which unfortunately would be the case right now. To top it off we have snow in the forecast for the next week. When is Spring going to be here? Does anyone know a magic dance or something that I can do to help it along? This is beginning to feel unreal. I think we've literally had the snowiest winter in my entire life this year. Too bad I'm not 10 years old again with no real obligations. This would have been the best winter of my life!
Tomorrow is the last day... Let's see if I manage to get this i-cord closer to being done. And then we are finished everyone! March begins Knitting on the Road. That should be a fun time since I have multiple gigs every weekend and of course knitting always accompanies me everywhere. It's very helpful to have when sitting in endless traffic trying to get back home through New York City. Oh my...
February 27, 2010
The second to last day. Where did the time go?
I am going to have to admit, this close to the end I start to lose my focus. I have this bad habit that I'm sure I share with many other knitters. That is, once I get almost to the end of a project it starts to feel finished in my head and then the attraction to work on it wanes a bit because it's done, right? Well, not quite. I do still need that second i-cord to get finished. Other than that, yes, right, it is finished.
I desperately wanted to wear the Scotch Mary sweater today. It was sitting on the top of a box full of yarn right at the foot of my bed. I was trying to find clothing that I wanted to wear and I kept looking back over at the sweater. I'd picked out some dark jeans and the Ginger color of Scotch Mary matched so nicely with it. I would have worn it regardless of not yet having the pattern photos taken, because I don't think I would have ruined it with one wear, but... that second i-cord was missing and I didn't think I would finish 3 feet of i-cord in the 15 minutes I had no matter how fast I tried to hustle myself to work. Darn.
And speaking of pattern photos... I *really* don't want to take photos of this very cute little warm weather sweater with a bunch of snow in the background, which unfortunately would be the case right now. To top it off we have snow in the forecast for the next week. When is Spring going to be here? Does anyone know a magic dance or something that I can do to help it along? This is beginning to feel unreal. I think we've literally had the snowiest winter in my entire life this year. Too bad I'm not 10 years old again with no real obligations. This would have been the best winter of my life!
Tomorrow is the last day... Let's see if I manage to get this i-cord closer to being done. And then we are finished everyone! March begins Knitting on the Road. That should be a fun time since I have multiple gigs every weekend and of course knitting always accompanies me everywhere. It's very helpful to have when sitting in endless traffic trying to get back home through New York City. Oh my...
The Sweater Project: Day Twenty Eight
February 28, 2010 ~ Success!
The second i-cord for the Scotch Mary sweater has been completed. This was the last step for this design, which means that I reached the goal I had initially set for myself–to design and complete a sweater within the span of one month. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get this last i-cord in today because I had a gig, but... where there's a will there's a way.
Someday the sun will have to show its face and melt the snow and let me take some photos! I swear this weather is really the pits. Maybe if we all collectively do the sunshine dance we can all benefit from it! But regardless of all that, photos will eventually be coming. And when the photos are finished of course I will post a few to share with y'all, but I'm also going to go ahead and put together that booklet of the process and design of Scotch Mary. I need my mom (who is a layout editor) to help me figure out all the guidelines and bleed and that other specific printing stuff that boggles my mind. I can probably get her to help me out with that tomorrow and have the copy all done and laid out in the next few days. That will put me right back to waiting for the sunshine and some photos. I would love to go down to the beach for photos and have that scene as a background. Hmmm... and there's probably not too much snow down there. Hmmm... that would be good, then all I need is the sun part and not the snow melt. I really am just so impatient!
So this is it then... I feel like I'm saying good bye! I promise I am not. For one thing, even though Scotch Mary is designed and knit I do still need to finish up all the technical pattern stuff. And then of course there's Maggie Grey waiting in the wings to take over. Despite all the problems that Maggie was giving me those first 2 days, she has really turned into quite anther lovely lady. It was pointed out to me that Scotch Mary also was driving me a bit crazy in the beginning stages. Amazing how quickly that can be forgotten. Already I am over my frustration with Maggie and Mary. Strawberry Wine though... that one is a different story. Looking at the yarn for that still gets me annoyed. Mostly at myself. The yarn os gorgeous. It's soft, shiny, fuzzy, and a beautiful color and it's kicking my butt! I think in the end I will succeed with that sweater too, but it will have to wait for Maggie to be done and when it comes it's time again simplicity will be key. That one will be all about showing off the loveliness of the yarn.
Thank you everyone that has been following along with my blog! It was nice to have company for this sweater project journey, and, quite honestly, knowing there were people watching my progress gave me the motivation not to toss in the towel. So a huge thanks y'all!
February 28, 2010 ~ Success!
The second i-cord for the Scotch Mary sweater has been completed. This was the last step for this design, which means that I reached the goal I had initially set for myself–to design and complete a sweater within the span of one month. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get this last i-cord in today because I had a gig, but... where there's a will there's a way.
Someday the sun will have to show its face and melt the snow and let me take some photos! I swear this weather is really the pits. Maybe if we all collectively do the sunshine dance we can all benefit from it! But regardless of all that, photos will eventually be coming. And when the photos are finished of course I will post a few to share with y'all, but I'm also going to go ahead and put together that booklet of the process and design of Scotch Mary. I need my mom (who is a layout editor) to help me figure out all the guidelines and bleed and that other specific printing stuff that boggles my mind. I can probably get her to help me out with that tomorrow and have the copy all done and laid out in the next few days. That will put me right back to waiting for the sunshine and some photos. I would love to go down to the beach for photos and have that scene as a background. Hmmm... and there's probably not too much snow down there. Hmmm... that would be good, then all I need is the sun part and not the snow melt. I really am just so impatient!
So this is it then... I feel like I'm saying good bye! I promise I am not. For one thing, even though Scotch Mary is designed and knit I do still need to finish up all the technical pattern stuff. And then of course there's Maggie Grey waiting in the wings to take over. Despite all the problems that Maggie was giving me those first 2 days, she has really turned into quite anther lovely lady. It was pointed out to me that Scotch Mary also was driving me a bit crazy in the beginning stages. Amazing how quickly that can be forgotten. Already I am over my frustration with Maggie and Mary. Strawberry Wine though... that one is a different story. Looking at the yarn for that still gets me annoyed. Mostly at myself. The yarn os gorgeous. It's soft, shiny, fuzzy, and a beautiful color and it's kicking my butt! I think in the end I will succeed with that sweater too, but it will have to wait for Maggie to be done and when it comes it's time again simplicity will be key. That one will be all about showing off the loveliness of the yarn.
Thank you everyone that has been following along with my blog! It was nice to have company for this sweater project journey, and, quite honestly, knowing there were people watching my progress gave me the motivation not to toss in the towel. So a huge thanks y'all!