Sallah Cowl

It's been a busy couple weeks for designs recently, and I'm still catching my breath.  But I wanted to talk a little bit about my design in last week's Knitty, the Sallah Cowl!

(all photos are copyright Bristol Ivy and star the lovely Dana, who was kind enough to do an early morning photoshoot with me on my birthday in August!)

Sallah was designed with a couple key features in mind: I wanted it to be a one skein project, and I wanted it to use variegated yarn.  I knew (from personal experience!) that single skeins of hand-dyed variegated sock yarn are incredibly tempting in yarn stores, but (also from personal experience) they can sit around for a while, waiting for the perfect project that will utilize their gorgeous colors without creating a muddy mess.  Combine those needs with an amazing stitch pattern that a German visitor to my local LYS showed me, and I knew I had a good combination! My super wonderful mom knit the original sample for me, and did an absolutely marvelous job.  Thanks, mom!

(we shot these behind the big barn at Gilsland Farms, one of the local Audobon locations, and one of my favorite places for a shoot.  It's also where I shot Telemetry and my own photos for Winnowing!)

Sallah is knit on the bias, which also helps move the variegation around even further and aids in preventing pooling.  However, this has led to a few questions from knitters, so I thought I'd go over a couple points here.

The first concerns the measurement point after completing the increases and starting the body.  The pattern indicates to measure along the left edge, but with a fabric made of ribbing and an odd shape, where exactly is that? Here's a quick diagram to help illustrate.

The bottom point is your cast on, and the top point is your bind off.  You're aiming for a parallelogram! (Thanks, mom and 6th grade geometry!) Keep in mind, too, that you'll measure that left edge unstretched--this comes into play with the question below.  Another note is that row gauge is pretty critical to this project (as all measurements are based on it), so make sure you're keeping careful note.

This second question concerns the cowl length before seaming; the final measurements are 22" in circumference, but you will start the decreases at 17" in length along the left edge (what we were talking about above!), creating a finished product 17" in circumference.  So where do those extra five inches come from?

Well, ribbing is stretchy.  And Sallah is knit on the bias.  When you combine those two things, you will add both length and height during the blocking process, when you'll stretch the whole project out to match the pattern dimensions.  Just give it a try--trust me!

Lastly, Sallah is almost completely customizable to whatever length you'd like! There are a couple bits of math to keep in mind, and it's necessary to have a scale for this part.
Step 1: weigh your ball of yarn before starting.
Step 2: weigh your ball of yarn after performing the increases.  Note this amount--you will need the same for your decreases.
Step 3: calculate an amount for your I-cord edging.  We reserved about 20g for the I-cord on the original cowl, for a 22" circumference, so proceed accordingly.
Step 4: Add the amount of yarn used for your increases together with the amount needed for your I-cord.  You can now knit on the body of the cowl until this amount of yarn remains! It may involved some complicated algebra to make sure that the changing circumference and the changing I-cord amounts meet up (algebra was 8th grade for me), but it shouldn't be too bad.

I hope this helps with your Sallah experience; it's been so much fun for me to see all the projects popping up on Ravelry so far.  I can't wait to see more!

Bits and Pieces

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the Bristol edition of Reader's Digest?

• Did you see that the Kit Camisole is now available for sale on Ravelry? It is!
• Did you see that the Tideline Cowl from Cecily's wonderful book, Landing, is now available for sale individually on Ravelry? Well, it is, too!
• Did you see I'm teaching my wet felted vessels class at the Portland Fiber Gallery next weekend? I am!
• Have I yet talked about KnitEast 2013, where I'll be teaching my shawl design class, my picots, pleats and welts class, and my Bristol's Cowl, among such unbelievable company as Ann Budd, Mary Jane Mucklestone, and the Yarn Harlot? I can't wait for September!
• Did I mention that I finished the first lingering deadline project last week, and officially ran out of yarn on my second deadline project last night, so I can knit whatever I want until more yarn arrives? I did!
• Did I mention my big brother is moving cross country on Monday? He is*! 

What exciting things are happening in your life these days?

*(Knitters of the world, he has with him a black and blue marled beanie that I knit for him a few Christmases ago.  If you see that hat on that guy as he makes his way across the country, be nice to him and steer him to whatever awesome donut or beer place is nearby.  I'll appreciate it more than I can say.)

A Belated Anouk

I was having a wee gander over the last few blog posts here on the blog, and I realized that I'd never done a formal introduction for my latest published pattern, Anouk!

(all photos by Carrie Bostick Hoge!)

Anouk has to be one of the quickest page-to-screen patterns I've ever produced;  I just found my original concept email to Pam at Quince, and from that date to publication was less than a month.  A month! Crazy! But sometimes when you've got the design itch, it has to happen!

The idea for Anouk came about from a simple "what if?" question; what if the chevron patterns that everyone knows and loves were turned slightly askew? All the versions I had seen were symmetrical and lovely, but I wanted to see what might happen to the fabric were the decreases pulled off-center.  Anouk is the result! It's a one skein project using Quince's gorgeous fluffy Osprey, one of my favorite yarns ever, in the gorgeous Gingerbread colorway.  I am rarely without a huge scarf, shawl, or cowl around my neck this time of year, and I can't wait to snuggle down in this one!

As an aside, can we discuss how much I want the shirt the model wore for this shoot? I've been stalking it and the rest of the Pendleton Portland collection for both my own wardrobe and design inspiration.  I think it fits wonderfully with Anouk's aesthetic!

A huge thanks to everyone who shared their own stories of the knitting wandering eye after the last blog post; it was so great to hear that I'm not alone. :) I'm closing in on the end of both deadline sweaters, so a bit of frivolous knitting is in sight!

What I would be doing if I weren't me

Friends, I am sad to say that ennui has set in.  I am hip deep in two deadline projects, and all I want to do is knit handspun socks, tiny baby hats, and every single thing that isn't one of the two currently on the needles.  I am sure this is a temporary glitch, but I thought it might help to share some of my current obsessions with you in hopes that my recovery will be quicker in coming.  Because these sweaters won't knit themselves!


So what's catching my attention at the moment? The Alfalfa Hat by Kate Gagnon Osborn and the Crooked Little Baby Bonnet by Melissa LaBarre.  I have quite a few pregnant friends and I am itching to make tiny hats for all of them.  (Not to mention the tiny sweaters. . .) The Stockard Cardi by Cecily Glowik MacDonald, the Clarity Cardigan by Gretchen Ronnevik, High Country by Carol Sunday, and Toulouse by Leah Thibault.  Swing knitting.  Oversized cables.  Marling.  The Fair Isle hat in Loft leftovers I've had planned for a month.  Spinning scrappies from Funky Carolina and Into the Whirled for the most colorful pair of socks ever.  Setting up another project on the loom.  And. . . and. . . and. . .

So you see, I have a terminal case of the wandering fiber eye.  But if you'll excuse me, I'll be over here staring balefully at this sweater.  Send good thoughts.

An October in Images

Kinnearing the Yarn Harlot at Webs.

The crew waits in line for the first day of Rhinebeck to open. . .


along with lots and lots of other people!


Lovely yarn in the sunshine.


A llama with an unfortunate haircut.


A Shetland lamb.


A Romney ram.


A ride over to Peak's Island.


Sunset starting in Casco Bay.

Nesting.

Wishing you an equally wonderful fall!

Rhinebeck Ready

Last time I went to Rhinebeck back in 2010, I decided two weeks beforehand that I wanted a Rhinebeck sweater.  A custom-designed, all-over cabled, handspun Rhinebeck sweater.  Yes, I am well aware of the crazy.  I managed it, but I swore to myself--never again.

So this year I planned ahead.  The Ursa Sweater I've been working on all year? Rhinebeck sweater.  I started early, I gave myself lots of leeway, it would be no sweat, right? I finished it back in September with plenty of time to spare.

It's knit from handspun, carded from bits and pieces of everything that I had in my stash.  There's alpaca, merino, BFL, cashmere, and angora, and I spun it as an Aran-weight 3-ply.  I made a bunch of mods to the pattern (narrowing the sleeves, changing the buttonband, changing the decrease style, twisting the rib, toggles instead of buttons) and I love this sweater absolutely to bits.  It is warm and soft and cozy and I'm planning to wear the crap out of it.

So hey, I thought, I'm good to go! I can get started on knitting my Rare Breed Sheep Heid! The last time at Rhinebeck, we saw a knitting group that all had matching hats, which made it wonderfully easy for them to find each other in the crowd.  My knitting group decided that we would all have matching Sheep Heids for this year, and me being me, I wanted to use the rare wools I had played with in Deb Robson's class at SOAR last year.  All in all, I used Soay, American Karakul, Black Welsh Mountain, Manx Loaghtan, Shetland, North Ronaldsay, and two colors of paco-vicuna.

  

It still needs a proper blocking and some beauty shots, but it's done! It was intriguing to play with all different breeds on this; some, like the Manx Loaghtan and the North Ronaldsay, were wonderful for colorwork.  American Karakul and this particular Shetland fleece? Not so much.  They were definitely trending more towards hair fleeces, and the stitches are very wiry (as you can see with the white stitches above).  It will be very interesting to see how it blocks!

So my Rhinebeck sweater is done, and my hat's done, with a good amount of time to spare.  The problem? 

 

All that extra time means I started a second Rhinebeck sweater.  Wish me luck!

Ballerina Dreams

As we've discussed previously, I spent most of my life in dance studios growing up.  Even now, as my time away from dance lengthens, I am still overwhelmingly fond of all things dance and ballet (and do still toy with the idea of taking an adult ballet class in my free time, whenever that may be).  Imagine my delight last fall when I discovered the plethora of ballet and dance documentaries available streaming on Netflix! These were constant companions for about three months, and I studied the dancers' technique and lines as I knitted away on sample knits.  It was inevitable that the joining of those two art forms was imminent.  I started studying the warm up gear more intently over time, and the idea for the Galina Pullover was born.

 

(all photos by Carrie Bostick Hoge for Quince)

Knit from the bottom up in Quince's lovely Finch in the colorway Delft , this sweater employs an unusual construction similar to that of ballet warm ups. 

 

The body is knit in the round, and then split for the deep neckline.  The sleeves are then joined back in the round and knit straight up, almost like a pair of upside-down tights.  The pattern calls for 1-2" of positive ease, but I've also worn the sample with 4" of negative ease and been happy with the fit, so it's up to you!

 

I know the neckline seems daring, but I'd also love to see this on top of a printed camisole, or even a button-up shirt.  The possibilities are endless!

Galina can be found with Quince here and on Ravelry here.   And if you're interested in some hardcore dance documentary watching of your own, here's the list of movies I watched over and over and over! The links will take you to Netflix for your own queueing.  :)

Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance; a profile on the history of the Joffrey Ballet

Last Dance; a document of the collaboration between Pilobolus Dance Theatre and Maurice Sendak.  This has some NSFW bits, but an amazing profile on the creation of a dance piece

Ballerina; profiles of five dancers in different stages of their career with the Kirov Ballet in Moscow

The Dancer; a profile of a young Swedish dancer as she finishes her training and goes out into the professional world

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Dance Academy.  This show is complete fiction and complete fluff, but I couldn't stop watching it (and made other people do so as well).  Set in a ballet school in Sydney, Australia, it's a teen soap opera that follows a group of friends through their first couple years of training.  I haven't watched the second season yet, but I'm expecting to hunker down sometime this winter and watch ALL of it at once and then not be able to talk about anything else for a month.